Curiosity Broke the Scissors
by Curious Kitsune654
Summary: Curiosity is both a good and bad thing. It can lead to discoveries that change the world, or leave you deep within danger's grasp. The phrase 'Curiosity killed the cat' exists for a reason after all. However, when Star let's her own curiosity get the best of her, she ends up causing something so much worse than that. (New Cover by Koniak007, full image on their deviantart)
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or SvtFoE franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it is not just hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

PS: As I said in the summary, I accepted this challenge because I lost a bet with a fellow author and I am a writer of my word. That said, I have never seen, nor do I really intend to see, the show SvtFoE so most of the character actions and personalities will be based on what I can get off the internet. If you are actually are a fan of the show and see something wrong please let me know and I'll try to fix it.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

Curiosity Broke the Scissors

-Chapter 1-

"Star, I don't think this is a good idea." A teen boy with brown hair wearing a bright red hoodie said nervously. "You heard Glossaryck, Locked Dimensions are locked for a reason."

"And that just makes me want to see them more Marco!" A blonde teen girl with heart marks on her cheeks and a red devil horn hairband exclaimed excitedly, her arms flailing around with a wand that looked like something you'd find in a magical girl anime and an ornate pair of scissors clasped in either hand. "Just imagine all the amazing things we'll get to see and awesome adventures we'll get to have!"

These two were Marco Diaz, a Latino-American boy who tended to be overly cautious and a bit of a neat freak, and Star Butterfly, an energetic princess from another dimension who'd been living with Marco's family for the last few days as an exchange student while she learned to control the power of her wand.

During that time, Marco had to deal with some of the craziest and oddest situations in his life. A prominent example being when one of Star's friends Pony Head, a literal floating unicorn head, visited with the intention of having one last blowout before being sent to a reform school.

Afterwards, the bodiless horse left Star with the scissors the girl was currently holding, which were capable of cutting open portals to other dimensions… no, seriously.

Anyway, being the curious and excitable girl she was, Star quickly learned everything that she could about the handy tool, and stumbled upon an interesting related subject, Locked Dimensions. These were dimensions that almost all form of dimensional travel was blocked, whether it be from a naturally occurring phenomenon or intentionally sealed off because of the dangers they held.

And _naturally_ , Star wanted to go to one of these places almost immediately after learning about them, despite the numerous warnings and people saying that it was an extremely bad idea.

"How do you even plan to do this? Everything you found on Locked Dimensions said that Dimensional Scissors don't work on them at all." Marco stated, before sighing as Star wiggled her wand in front of his face. "Of course you're gonna use your wand."

"Yep, if I channel the magic from it into the scissors, then it should boost them enough to work." The princess said while carelessly twirling the two magical items in her hands.

' _Or it'll cause a huge disastrous mess that we'll have to spend all day cleaning up… again.'_ Marco thought with a grimace. "Fine, but why are we doing it in my room? I just finished cleaning in here." He said while gesturing to the tidy bedroom they were currently standing in.

"Sorry Marco but the laser puppies are napping in mine right now and I don't want to disturb them. Now stop worrying so much, I'll be careful." Star said, shrugging off the boy's concerns as she held her arms out in front of her and pressed the top of the wand against the scissor blades while Marco dived for cover.

…

…

*Bzzt-poof* "Perfect!"

Slowly peaking out from his cover, Marco was greeted by the site of Star grinning as she held up the Dimensional Scissors which now gave off a soft pink glow. Looking around the room, he was honestly amazed to find it completely unharmed.

"…That was surprisingly anticlimactic." The sweater wearing boy couldn't help but say as he fully stood up. "Looks like you're finally starting to get a hand on your magi-"

"Alright, let's give these a try!" Star cut him off as she jabbed the scissors in front of her and snipped the very air, causing a small cut to appear.

*KRAKACHZZZT*

"I spoke too soon!" Marco yelled as chaos erupted throughout the room. Lightning arced all over the place, igniting multiple things aflame and leaving dark scorch marks, powerful winds blew around practically everything not nailed to the floor, and random areas of the room were suddenly froze over.

Meanwhile, in the exact center of all this, Star firmly stood her ground as she struggled to continue cutting. With each snip of the scissors, the portal grew larger, but the destruction happening around her got steadily worse.

The temperature in the room skyrocketed, melting all the ice and causing the two to sweat profusely, before plummeting just as rapidly. Then, hot steaming water started pouring from growing tear, soaking the floor and causing the forming ice to crackle and hiss from the sudden warmth.

"Y-You need t-to s-s-stop Star!" Marco yelled with chattering teeth, clinging to his bedframe for dear life as his body was jerked around in the air like a ragdoll. "This i-is getting t-too f-far out o-o-of hand!"

"Just a little bit longer! It's almost finished!" Star yelled back, the hearts on her cheeks having turned into tick marks as she tried to make the last cut, only for the scissors to refuse to budge. Gritting her teeth, the princess dropped her wand so that she could grip the cutting tool's handles with both hands and squeeze them with all her might.

"S-Star!" The hooded boy screamed as a bolt narrowly missed turning him into an extra crispy fried teenager.

"Hold on Marco!" Star's hands trembled violently and sweat practically showered from her brow, but a wide grin spread across her lips once she started to feel the scissors close. "I'm… almost… THERE!"

With one last grunt of effort, the magic paper cutter finally sliced through the fabric of reality and the portal stabilized, turning into a blackhole-like vortex that lazily spun in the air.

"Yes! It worked! It worked!" Star cheered happily as everything settled down. "I told you it would work Marco! Now come on, I can't wait too-" *Crackle*

The blonde girl stopped midsentence as an odd cracking sound reached her ears. Following the sound to its source, her eyes widened in shock as she watched glowing fractures rapidly spread across the blades of the Dimensional Scissors in her hands.

Snapping her gaze back to the portal before her, the color rapidly drained from Star's face and her cheek marks turned into hazard signs as similar cracks were spreading across it as well. Realizing what was about to happen, she turned towards Marco and reached out towards him.

Then everything went white.

…

"…uhg," A weak groan escaped Marco's lips as the world around him slowly came back into focus and numbly took in the sight of his destroyed bedroom from the floor he lay on. As his brain kicked back into gear though, his shock swiftly turned to worry for his friend as he looked to where she had been and saw nothing but shards of broken metal laying on the floor. "…St-Star…"

Breaking into a heavy coughing fit, the boy tried to sit up only to find himself pinned from the shoulders down under the burnt remains of his bed. Not deterred in the slightest, he wiggled around as much as he could to try and get free.

After several minutes of useless struggling, Marco froze as a swirling circle of fire suddenly appeared right at the epicenter of the explosion. Thinking that there was about to be another blast, the hooded teen braced himself as best he could, only to once more be caught by surprise as a lovely woman with pale skin, long red hair, and two horns sticking out of her head wearing an orange ball gown and a black tiara with a small flame floating above it stepped out.

She looked around most of the devastated bedroom with a mask of neutrality on her face that only broke when she saw the metal pieces on the floor. With a deep frown on her face, she bent over and scooped up several of the scissor fragments with her hand.

Straightening back up, the demonic looking woman stared at the shards sternly for several moments before suddenly jerking her head to the side so she was looking straight at Marco with a powerful glare as the fire above her head flared. "Tell me boy, who's the dumbass that fucked with things they shouldn't have?"

-Meanwhile-

"Ah, this is just what I needed after all those stupid D-ranks." A boy with spikey blonde hair and three whisker-like marks on either cheek said as he sunk into the warm soothing water of a hot-spring with nothing on but a towel around his waist.

This was Naruto Uzumaki, number one hyperactive knuckleheaded ninja of the village of Konohagakure and jinchuricki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. He had just finished up several D-rank missions (aka chores for lazy civilians) with his team ands was now enjoying soak in one of Konoha's hot-spring spas.

After a few minutes of nothing but silence though, a bored sigh escaped the boy's lips as he glanced around the empty spring. "Man, I can't believe they all bailed on me."

He was supposed to be hanging out with a few of his guy friends, Shikamaru, Choji, Shino, and Kiba, along with their sensei Kakashi and Asuma so that they could chat about how their first week as official ninja had been going. It was a little thing that they had come up with to celebrate fully graduating from the academy.

Unfortunately, Choji ended up going to an eating contest instead with Asuma and Shikamaru tagging along to make sure he didn't go overboard… and to probably take a nap in the latter's case. Shino's hive got the bug equivalent of the common cold, so the quiet boy was on bedrest for the next few days.

Kiba was at home nursing his pride and face from the beatdown he got when he made a bad joke about his sister without realizing she was right behind him. Hell, even his teammate Sasuke was missing, but that was rather expected since unless it was training, brooding, or tomatoes, the emo was having nothing to do with it.

Kakashi was simply too lazy to even bother coming, enough said.

Not one to be deterred though, and not wanting to have wasted the money he spent to be here, Naruto kept trying to enjoy himself, letting the mineral rich hot water soak away the stress and soreness in his muscles. It wasn't easy however, as the splashing and yelling coming over the divider from the women's side kept reminding him how he wasn't getting to hang out with his friends like planned.

"Oh who am I kidding, this blows." He said with another sigh, sending the dividing wall a jealous look before sinking further into the water, somehow missing the pale lavender eye that was staring at him through a small hole.

' _Poor Naruto-kun,'_ The owner of said eye, a lovely young girl with short dark blue hair, thought with a sad look. Her name was Hinata Hyuga, a shy kind girl and member of the highly respected Hyuga clan. Hearing more yelling coming from behind her, the bluenette briefly stopped her peep- er, checking up on Naruto to look back, where a girl with pink hair and another with platinum blonde yelled at each-other while a red-eyed raven-haired woman held them apart with a dull look.

"Sasuke-kun is mine Ino-pig!"

"No way forehead! He loves me!"

"Like hell he does!"

In order, these three were Sakura, Naruto's teammate and crush, Ino, Sakura's exfriend and love rival, and Kurenai, Hinata's team sensei. Unable to help herself, Hinata rolled her eyes at the sight while going back to discreetly spying on a bored Naruto.

"Eh-hem, and what do you think you're doing."

"EEEP!"

…or at least she thought she'd been discreet.

Jumping in surprise at the voice right behind her, Hinata spun around with a heavy blush on her face, before cringing as she found herself being glared at suspiciously by Sakura, while Kurenai looked at her with an odd mixture of amusement and disappointment on her face, and Ino smirked with a gleam in her eye.

"You were trying to peek on Sasuke-kun, weren't you?" Sakura accused while jabbing a finger into the pale eyed girl's developing chest.

"Oh please forehead, everyone knows she has a huge crush on Naruto." Ino said while shoving the pinkette back and pulled Hinata into a one-armed hug. "But who knew little miss wallflower Hinata had it in her to try peeping on him. I guess what they say about the quiet ones is true after all."

At this point, Hinata's face was literally glowing red and steam slowly rose from her ears as she tried to deny everything, only for her words to come out a jumbled stuttering mess.

"Really? She's actually into Naruto-baka?" Sakura asked with a raised brow. "I thought that was just one of those stupid rumors you started up for fun."

"Hey! I'll have you know that I only deal with authentic gossip." Ino said confidently, her chest puffing out in pride. "Speaking of which, I wonder what the boys are talking about… _or how Sasuke looks without his shirt._ " Her smirk growing, Ino pulled Hinata out of the way as she excitedly took the girl's spot at the hole.

However, it took exactly .01 seconds for that eagerness to turn to confusion when she saw Naruto by himself, lazily splashing water at a nearby rock. "What the? Naruto's the only one over there."

"Say what?" Squeezing in next to the blonde, Sakura blinked in surprise as she saw the same thing. "The heck? Where is everyone?"

"They're probably still getting undressed." Ino said, before she and Sakura shifted in place so they were looking towards the changing room, hoping to see Sasuke as he walked out.

-Que Fast Forward Sound Effect-

"…Okay, they aren't here." Ino said as she backed away from the wall after five minutes passed with no signs of anyone coming. "Maybe something came up."

"For everyone but Naruto?" Sakura asked disbelievingly. "They probably just decided to bail at the last minute."

"Yeah, that's sounds like something they'd do." Ino said with a frown. "I kinda feel bad for Naruto though, I heard he was really looking forward to this."

"Meh, he'll be fine, just buy him some ramen and the idiot will forget all about it." Sakura said while sinking back into the steaming water, not seeing the small angry look Hinata sent her before the shy girl went back to 'checking on' Naruto.

"Amazing, such concern for your teammate's wellbeing, it's inspiring." Kurenai said sarcastically, giving the pinkette a disapproving look.

"That did sound sorta cold Sakura, even if this is Naruto we're talking about." Ino couldn't help but admit.

Sakura shrugged in response, her face not changing. "Maybe a little, but I'm not wrong. I've yet to see something that keeps him down for long."

Ino nodded, knowing what Sakura was talking about while Kurenai rolled her eyes before looking towards Hinata as the girl shook her arm lightly. "What is it Hinata?"

"T-there's something w-weird happening with N-N-N-Naruto-kun." The bluenette stuttered while suddenly pulling the raven-haired woman to the peeping spot. Surprised by the girl's actions, Kurenai didn't manage to regain her wits until she was already looking through the hole in the wall and saw what Hinata was talking about.

Naruto himself was fine albeit confused and on edge, the reason for such clear as the water around him was roiling madly while emanating a bright aurora of colors. "What the hell?" Kurenai muttered as her eye narrowed at the sight, before widening as the light started rapidly increasing.

"Get down!" She yelled, grabbing Hinata and tackling the other two girls into the spring.

*BOOOOM*

A massive explosion shook the area, blowing the walls of the hot-spring to pieces and sending hot water showering everywhere. As the effects of the blast were dying down, Sakura, Ino, and Hinata burst to the surface gasping for breath while Kurenai simply stood up, blood leaking from all their ears.

"W-What was that?!" Sakura screamed out once she finished coughing up the water she'd accidentally swallowed.

"What!?" Ino yelled back, unable to hear what the pinkette was saying.

Neither Hinata or Kurenai spoke, the former being too dazed to while the latter knew it was pointless to try since she recognized the pain in her inner ears and the disorientation she felt being caused by ruptured eardrums.

Well, that and they were both boggled by the sight they saw when they looked back towards the origin of the explosion.

Naruto sat in thee exact same spot, his face a mask of shock and surprise. He had various minor heat and scald burns across his body and his towel was basically a pile of rags, but other than that he was surprisingly unharmed.

Despite his lack of injuries though, he remained completely immobile and kept his gaze locked forward…

…where an equally shocked looking Star stared right back with her arm outstretched towards her fellow blonde.

…

…

…

"…Hi."

"…Yo."

-End Chapter-

AN: I hope I did well and that you all enjoyed it, thank you for reading and please review.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or SvtFoE franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up flaming or hate. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

Curiosity Broke the Scissors

-Chapter 2-

-Last Time-

…

…

 _"…Hi."_

 _"…Yo."_

-And Now-

Star was nervous, extremely nervous, the absolutely most nervous she'd ever been in her entire life.

She was sitting on a cold metal chair inside a small room made almost entirely out of dull grey stone, with the only exception being the solid metal door to one side. Her hands were bound to either side of the table in front of her and in a pair of odd gloves that kept her from moving her fingers. To top it all off, there was an odd slip of paper on her forehead with the kanji for 'Suppress' that made her feel weak and sluggish.

It had been a few hours since her rather… dramatic entrance at the hot-spring, and the girl was getting increasingly worried for her own wellbeing. Shortly after her appearance, a bunch of scary people wearing animal masks had detained her while she was recovering from the shock of both the explosion and seeing a boy around her age mostly naked.

Ever since, she'd been held within this room, undergoing repeated interrogation by different people. The first had been a scarred man with a bandana covering his head called Ibiki, who had asked the princess things like why she was in Konoha and who she was.

Being the honest girl she was, and with the intimidating aura the man gave off, Star told him the full story despite how worried she was that he wouldn't believe her. She still remembered Marco's reaction when she first showed her magic, and unlike then she didn't have her wand to prove anything she was saying. However, despite how incredulous her words sounded, the man's impassive expression didn't waver at all.

Once she'd finished, Ibiki thanked her for cooperating and excused himself. A few minutes later, an energetic woman with light purple hair who waltzed in and said her name was Anko. She seemed like a nice person, constantly making jokes and even feeding Star some tasty food called dango, which the girl was really thankful for since she was really hungry, before asking her some of the same things Ibiki did.

However, she also added several seemingly random and personal questions, like what her favorite color was, if she thought the boy at the hot-springs was cute, what her home life was like, if she'd ever kissed a boy, what she did in her free time, or if she'd ever seen a boy's junk. And oddly enough, no matter how much she wanted to not answer some (Read: most) of those questions, Star felt the answers practically fall out of her mouth before she could even think.

By the time Anko left, Star's face was as red as a tomato and the hearts on her cheeks were literally glowing a bright pink.

The last person to see her was a middle-aged blonde man, who didn't say anything other than giving his name, Inoichi, before making a bunch of funny motions with his hands and the princess of Mewni blacked out. When she came too, her head was aching softly and the man was leaving.

And now here she was, all by herself, stranded in an unknown dimension without any way out or her wand, being held prisoner by equally unknown people. As endlessly optimistic as she usually was, Star was having trouble keeping a positive outlook on her current situation as the time stretched on.

' _I should have listened to Marco.'_ She thought with a quiet whimper as the sole light in the room flickered ominously.

Unknown to the out of the world princess though, she wasn't as alone as she thought, as four people stood on the other side of the wall she was facing, which was somehow transparent for them.

The first three were the people who'd been interrogating Star, while the fourth was an elderly man wearing traditional with robes with red highlights, who'd just finished reading over several different papers. This was Hiruzen, the third Hokage of Konoha and renowned genius when it came to politics and the shinobi arts. "You're certain that she isn't a spy or assassin?"

"Positive Hokage-sama," Ibiki said without hesitation. "The girl definitely shows signs of fighting skill, but she is no ninja. Her story also stayed completely consistent throughout both mine and Anko's talks with her."

"Yeah, the little gaki didn't even notice the truth serum that was laced her dango with given her. Her reactions to the test questions were priceless." Anko added, unable to hold back a chuckle.

"She checks outs mentally as well, her memories show none of the fragmentation or degradation that they would from someone suffering from delusions or hallucinations." Inoichi stated while holding up a pair of red scissor handles. "The scientists did confirm that these had been emitting an odd energy. From what they could tell, it definitely wasn't chakra, but it dispersed before they could get a proper sample, most likely because they're broken."

"…What about the other item?" The old man asked, getting Inoichi to lower the scissor handles and hold up… Star's wand. Unlike the scissors, it was still intact thankfully, but the magical tool had clearly seen better days as several cracks and scorch marks covered its surface.

"It's also giving off some form of energy and even seems to still be operational, but we haven't been able to get any form of reaction from it or the samples we took so far." The blonde said as he placed both items in the elderly man's hand.

Nodding his head in understanding, the old man gazed through the one-way wall at Star as she gradually grew more and more nervous with each passing second with a look of contemplation. After several minutes of silence, he seemed to be satisfied with what he saw and walked off.

Star jumped slightly as the door opened once more and an elderly man walked in with a kind smile on his face. "Hello Star-san, sorry for startling you."

"Hello sir, are you here to ask me more questions?" She asked politely, albeit with nervousness and a tiny amount of exasperation mixed in.

"A few yes, but first," To the girl's surprise, as Hiruzen sat down he suddenly reached forwards and pulled off the gloves and the paper on her head before unlocking the cuffs around her wrists. "I apologize for all the discomfort my people had to put you through, but with your… interesting arrival we had to be sure you weren't here to cause any trouble. I'm sure you can understand."

"Yes sir," Star said with a nod as she rubbed her sore wrists. "Does this mean you're letting me go?"

"Well yes and no," Hiruzen said, getting a confused look in response until he elaborated. "While it may have been an accident, you did do a considerable amount of property damage and had a few people sent to the hospital."

Star gasped and started to apologize, only to be cut off when the elderly man raised his hand. "Relax, it was only a few burns and ruptured eardrums. However, you will have to pay the costs for repairs, loss of business, and hospital bills."

"And how much will that be?" Star asked, already dreading the answer. Normally, money wouldn't be an issue for her, what with her parents being royalty and all. But she had no way of contacting them at the moment, and she had a strong feeling these people wouldn't accept an IOU.

"Roughly 720,000 ryo (72,000 USD)," Hiruzen said, causing Star to pale rapidly at the large number. "And judging by what you've told us, you don't exactly have that kind of money on hand."

"…no sir, I don't." The princess said sadly as she sank into her chair.

"Well then, that does leave you in a bit of a pickle, but I'm sure we can come up with a reasonable solution. Does this look familiar?" Hiruzen asked while holding up Star's wand, causing the girl's eyes to widen in surprise.

"My wand!" Star exclaimed in shock. "How did you get that?! What happened to it?!"

"One of my men found it like that floating inside the hot-spring. The damage is most likely being from the explosion you caused." Hiruzen said, getting Star to wince a little. "You claim to be able to cast magic with this, correct?"

"Uh-huh, I can do all sorts of cool spells with it, although I am still learning how to use it properly." Star admitted with an awkward chuckle as she remembered all the mishaps she'd made when casting new spells.

"Okay then, would you mind giving me a small example?" The elderly man asked while holding the wand out to her.

Quickly swiping it out of his hands, Star looked the magic tool over thoroughly, a sigh of relief escaping her lips as she saw that the damage wasn't as bad as it looked before pointing it at the table. "Blooming daisy sparkles."

' _Most interesting,'_ Hiruzen thought as dozens of glitter covered flowers suddenly sprouted from the metal table's surface. "Well then Butterfly-san, I do believe I have just the way for you to pay off your debt."

-Time skip-

"Kami I hate hospitals." Naruto groaned as he plopped down in a chair by a simple wooden table, a cup of freshly made instant ramen in hand. He was dressed in his usual attire of a bright orange jacket and pants with a fluffy white collar and blue highlights. "Them and their stupid needles."

After that weird incident at the hot-springs, he'd been taken to the hospital to be checked over. However, by the time he'd gotten there, the blonde's injuries were all but gone already thanks to his natural healing factor. Unfortunately, it turned out that he was overdue for several different inoculations and had to get several shots.

The nurse was nice enough, even giving him a two for one coupon to his favorite food shack, Ichiraku's, afterwards. Though when he tried to see how Sakura was doing, she slapped the hell out of him while calling him a baka for some reason.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

Naruto froze in the middle of slurping down his food, his head jerking towards the front door when he heard someone knocking on it rapidly. "Fo the heff is fhat?"

Nobody came by his place except for Iruka, his old teacher from the academy and big brother figure, and the Hokage, and both knew they didn't need to knock before entering. So, naturally confused and curious, the whiskered blonde quickly swallowed the last few noodles in his mouth before standing up to find out.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

"Alright! Alright! I'm coming!" Naruto yelled in annoyance as the knocking didn't stop. Pulling the door open, he prepared to voice his irritation further, only to stop cold at the sight before him.

Standing in front of him was Anko, Ibiki, and the girl from the hot-spring, who was rubbing her neck with a grimace with one hand while the other was firmly gripped her wand. A new addition though, was the Hitai-ate around her noggin that looked just like the other three's, a blue headband with a metal plate on the front that was engraved with a stylized leaf.

"Naruto Uzumaki?" Ibiki asked, though it sounded more like a statement.

"Uh yeah, that's me." Naruto said before the intimidating man handed him a scroll held shut with a red binding in the middle with a bold kanji for 'C-rank'.

"By order of the Third Hokage, you are to house and care for one Star Butterfly until the time she finishes working off her debt to Konoha as a probationary genin alongside team seven." Ibiki said, causing Naruto to stare at him with a lost expression.

"…say what now?"

"In layman's terms boy gaki, you're girl gaki's babysitter for the foreseeable future while she does her community service." Anko said while shoving Star right into Naruto, which sent them both tumbling to the floor.

"The full details are in the scroll, if you still have questions then consult Hokage-sama." The impassive man stated bluntly before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.

"I late for a date with some dango so… yeah, what he said." Anko said as she turned to leave but stopped mid-step as she seemingly remembered something. "Oh wait, almost forgot." Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a small brown bag and tossed it on the still downed blondes. "Make sure you use those, wouldn't want any more little gakis running around too soon."

The purplette broke out into laughter after saying this before slamming the door shut, leaving Naruto and Star alone as they slowly untangled themselves.

"…Hello again," Star said with a nervous smile as she quickly got up to feet and held her arm out towards Naruto. "I'm Star… and I guess we're roommates now."

"Looks like it, Naruto Uzumaki at your service-Ttebayo. Make yourself at home." Naruto said with a smile as he shook the princess's hand, much to her surprise.

"You're not upset that I'm being forced to live with you?"

"Shocked yeah, upset not really, I'm sure Hokage-Jiji has a good reason for doing this." Naruto said with a shrug as he walked back over to his dining table and quickly downed the rest of his ramen. "Besides he got me this apartment in the first place when I needed a place to live, so I don't mind sharing it with someone else if he wants me too. Though I am gonna give Jiji a piece of my mind later for not giving me a heads up."

"Oh, then thank you for having me." Star said happily, glad that this boy was so accepting of her, just like Marco's parents when she first moved in with him as an exchange student. However, her happy mood quickly turned to embarrassment as her stomach gave a loud growl in protest to its emptiness. "You wouldn't happen to have anything to eat, would you?"

"Over there in the cupboard, help yourself." Naruto said, pointing to kitchenette as he unrolled the scroll he been given.

"Thanks," Star started to cross the room, but stopped briefly when she felt something squish under her foot. Looking down, she saw the package that Anko had left behind and picked it up with a curious look. However, just as she was about to open it, her stomach rumbled again and she set it down on a nearby table for later as she hurried to where the food was.

Pulling the cupboard open, she was greeted with a few boxes of cereal, a couple types of canned soups, fruits, and vegetables, and several Styrofoam cups like the one she'd seen Naruto eating out of. "What are these?" She asked while picking one up, question marks popping up on her cheeks.

"Uh, instant ramen duh, what else would it be?" Naruto said with an incredulous look. What, did this girl not know what ramen was?

"What's ramen?"

…

"What?" Star asked as Naruto stared at her blankly for several seconds. "Did I say something wro-EEP!"

A yelp escaped the girl's throat as Naruto suddenly scooped her up into a bridal carry and leapt out the open window. By the time Star's brain managed to catch up to what had just happened, they were already several blocks away from Naruto's, and now her, apartment as the whiskered blonde jumped from rooftop to rooftop.

Star found herself in awe as she saw the village passing underneath her, the light from the setting sun giving the whole place a soft homely glow. ' _Wow, this is way farther than I can jump.'_ She thought as Naruto effortlessly leapt at least eighty feet in the air to make one jump, a feat she'd need to use her magic to duplicate.

Just as fast as it started though, their journey came to a sudden end as Naruto dropped down into the street and darted into a food stand. "Teuchi-Jiji! Two bowls of miso ramen stat! We have a code zero!" He yelled, startling the elderly man who was inside as he set Star down on one of the stools.

"A code zero huh? I'm on it." The old man, which Star assumed was Teuchi, said with a hearty chuckle while quickly getting to cooking. "What's the name of the unlucky soul that's never had ramen before?"

"Star Butterfly, it's nice to meet you sir." Star said with a cheerful wave.

"Nice to meet you as well Butterfly-san, names Teuchi, but everyone just calls me Jiji." Teuchi said before pointing behind himself where a lovely young woman with long brown hair walked into view with a bag of flour in hand. "And that's my daughter Ayame."

"Hi Naruto, is this a new friend of yours?" Said girl asked after she set the flour down and walked up to the pair.

"Sort of Ayame-neechan," Naruto said before giving a quick overview of the day's events and even showing them the scroll he'd been given, which basically said the same thing Ibiki did, though with a few additional things added. Like the 2,500 ryo (250 USD) he'd get paid every two weeks to help cover costs such as food and clothing.

It also mentioned the exact amount Star had to work off, which both father and daughter couldn't help but cringe at, and how'd she'd do so by working alongside his team on missions.

The last part explained his job of making sure she stayed in Konoha unless on mission. Though it was a rather redundant task since a tracking seal had been tattooed to the back of Star's neck, hence why she kept rubbing it tenderly.

Speaking of which…

"Here, this should help a little." Ayame said as she set a wrapped icepack around Star's shoulders, getting the princess to sigh in relief as the cold numbed the sensitive skin.

"Thank you Ayame, that feels so much better." Star said as she hugged the brunette in thanks.

"Order up, two miso ramen, on the house for your first visit." Teuchi said while placing the large bowls in front of the two blondes.

"Oh, it looks delicious." Star said, drooling as the smell reached her nose, before looking at the pair of chopsticks she'd been given with a tilted head. Glancing towards Naruto, she watched him break them apart and start ravenously devouring the noodle dish.

Mimicking him as best she could, and with a few tips from Ayame once she saw how much trouble she was having, she slowly lifted a clump of noodles into her mouth…

-Que Hallelujah Sound Effect-

"Looks like we got ourselves another regular." Teuchi said with a chuckle as Star's eyes and cheek marks turned into sparkles before she started scarfing down her bowl as fast as Naruto.

-End Chapter-

AN: Sorry if this chapter is rushed, but I only had a little time to work on it since I'm moving to a new place soon. Anyway, I based the interrogation on a real life method called C.C.E. (Cooperation, Consistency, Evaluation). The first step is to test how cooperative the suspect is, the second to check how consistent their story, and the last is to evaluate their mental status (Usual with a trained shrink but hey mind reading works too).

As for Naruto being fine with her moving in, that's rather obvious. Not only is Naruto a nice guy, but he is desperate for friends, so having a girl his age who acts similar to him would probably be just fine with him. Thank you for reading and please review.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not anything from the Naruto or SvtFoE franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

Curiosity Broke the Scissors

-Chapter 3-

-Last Time-

 _"Oh, it looks delicious." Star said, drooling as the smell reached her nose, before looking at the pair of chopsticks she'd been given with a tilted head. Glancing towards Naruto, she watched him break them apart and start ravenously devouring the noodle dish._

 _Mimicking him as best she could, and with a few tips from Ayame once she saw how much trouble she was having, she slowly lifted a clump of noodles into her mouth…_

 _-Que Hallelujah Sound Effect-_

 _"Looks like we got ourselves another regular." Teuchi said with a chuckle as Star's eyes and cheek marks turned into sparkles before she started scarfing down her bowl as fast as Naruto._

-And Now-

"Uhhh, I'm sooo full." Star groaned, holding her slightly distended stomach as she and Naruto reentered their apartment through the front door.

"That's what happens when you have twenty-five bowls of ramen in one sitting." Naruto said with a grin, even as he stumbled a bit with his own enlarged gut. Slowly shuffling across the room, the pair flopped down in separate chairs in almost perfect sync. "It's worth it though."

*Belch* "Totally." The princess said as she sunk into her chair with a content look on her face.

"So, since we're probably gonna be here for a while, want hear a funny story?" Naruto asked, getting Star to nod her head.

For the next hour or so, the pair had talked and gotten to know each-other, trading stories of childhood mischief and adventures. The whiskered blonde himself had shared some of his past pranking exploits, such as the time he spiked the teacher's lounge coffee with laxatives or when he snuck a torn bag of catnip into Kiba's jacket.

Meanwhile, Star spoke about her many different (Mis)adventures in Mewni and on Earth, like when she mistakenly thought a game of football would be an actual battle. Though Naruto was naturally a bit skeptical when she claimed to be from another dimension, even after she showed him the tiny wings sticking out of her back.

Though he was pretty close to convinced when she used her wand to turn the simple wooden chairs they were on into plush pink recliners.

"Alright, it's getting pretty late Star-chan, we should call it a night." Naruto said as he stood up, failing to stifle a yawn as it forced its way out his mouth.

…

"Star-chan?" Wondering why he wasn't getting a response, Naruto turned his head towards the princess in confusion, before chuckling softly. Star's head was lolled to the side, a tiny trickle of drool dripping from her lips as she quietly snored in her seat.

Shaking his head humorously, the whiskered boy picked the princess up into his arms, being careful not to wake her up or mess with her wings as he held her in a bridal carry. He then walked over to his bedroom, gently set her down on his bed, and tucked her in as best he could.

Once he was done, Naruto shuffled over to a nearby closet and pulled out an extremely dusty futon. ' _looks like this wasn't a waste of money after all.'_ He thought with a smile, brushing the majority of the dust out the window before undoing the straps holding it shut and allowing it to unfurl on the floor.

Reaching back into the closet, he pulled out an equally dust covered blanket and pillow that he quickly cleaned off before laying down. *Yawn* "Goodnight Star."

-Next Day, Training Ground Seven-

"Ugh, where is that baka." Sakura grumbled, pacing back and forth in a small clearing as she fiddled with her ears, or more specifically the small black patches inside them. These were specifically designed padded covers that limited the amount of air and sound that entered her ears to protect the recently healed and sensitive parts of her inner ear while still allowing her to hear.

Not far away, a raven-haired boy leaning against a tree with a neutral expression on his face briefly glanced towards the pacing pinkette before continuing his staring contest with the ground. This was one Sasuke Uchiha, the broody sole remaining loyal member of the Uchiha clan and his class's Rookie of the Year.

The pair had been waiting for half an hour now for both their late hyperactive teammate and sensei Kakashi. This was actually the norm for the latter though, as he was chronically late for just about everything. Naruto on the other hand was usually right on time, or at worst a few minutes late because he ended up oversleeping.

"He'd better not be skipping out on us today, because I still need to finish our chat about him blowing out my eardrums." Sakura growled while cracking her knuckles. She didn't know exactly what happened at the hot-springs, given she'd been more focused on the piercing pain in her ears and the fact she couldn't hear a thing, but she was certain that it was Naruto's fault.

The explosion did happen on his side after all and he was all alone at the time, so it was the only logical conclusion.

She'd given him a piece of her mind at the hospital when he had the gall to act like it wasn't when he checked up on her at the hospital, but had been swiftly stopped by the medic-nin treating her before she could do more than slap him a few times. Add in that he was extremely late for their team meeting, and you have one very angry girl.

"Hey Sakura-chan! Sorry we're late!"

' _Speak of the devil…'_ The pinkette thought as her head snapped in the direction that Naruto's voice came from. Her gaze zeroing in on the whiskered boy, the pinkette clenched her fists tightly as she marched towards him, not noticing the blonde girl next to him due to her anger induced tunnel vision.

"I'm glad that you're here, I was worried that you'd still be at the hosp-HERK!" Naruto started to say, only to be cut off by a devastating punch to his face that sent him tumbling backwards.

"You're late baka!" Sakura yelled as she stood over the downed blonde with a raised fist. "Can't you read a clock!? You were supposed to be-"

"Narwhal Blast!"

Sakura was cut off mid-rant as a wave of miniature Narwhals slammed into her gut, knocking her clean off her feet and back several feet until she collided with the tree a now alert Sasuke was leaning against.

Said boy turned his head towards the source of the commotion and saw an unknown blonde girl with hearts on her cheeks worrying over Naruto. Able to put two and two together to figure out she was simple reacting to Sakura's attack on Naruto, Sasuke calmed back down and went back to his brooding, though made sure to keep an eye on the new person just in case.

"Are you alright Naruto?" Star asked as she helped her fellow blonde back to his feet, her wand still held at the ready towards Sakura.

"Itai… yeah I'm fine Star, don't worry." Naruto said, waving off her concern as he shook his head a few times to clear the ringing. "This happens a lot, I'm used to it."

"But she didn't even give you a chance to explain why we were late in the first place." Star pointed out angrily while jabbing her wand towards the stunned pinkette.

"Um, yeah well…" Naruto mumbled, trying and failing to come up with a defense for his crush. Not that he had much time too since Sakura managed to recover from the surprise blow and get back up.

"Owww… what the hell was that?" She demanded, a hand clutched to her stomach as she looked around angrily until her gaze settled on Naruto and Star. Staring at the heart-cheeked girl intently, she scoffed before turning towards the whiskered blonde with a dull look. "Seriously Naruto? Are you really so desperate for a girlfriend that you had one of your stupid clones use that ridiculous henge of yours?"

"Hey, don't you talk to Naruto like that." Star said with a frown.

"Oh please, I don't even listen to the original you, why would I do so for a clone." Sakura said while walking forward and jabbing a finger against Star's chest. "Just dispel already would you, nobody's falling for your little act."

A growl building up in her throat, Star's wand started to glow ominously as she started to raise it in order to blast the annoying pinkette across Konoha, only to be stopped halfway by a hand on her shoulder. Jumping a bit in surprise, the otherworldly princess snapped her head to the side to see a silver-haired man with almost his entire face covered.

"Now now there Sakura, that's no way to talk to your new teammate." The man said in a casual condescending tone, causing said pinkette to freeze while Sasuke's head perked up in interest.

"W-w-what did you say Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked as her head slowly turned towards the now named Kakashi, only to be ignored as the masked man turned his only visible eye towards Star.

"You are Star Butterfly, correct?"

"That's me, and you must be Kakashi," The magic-wielding girl said with a smile, her mood instantly perking up as she shook his hand. "It's nice to meet you sir, Naruto told me all about you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well Star-san." Kakashi said with an eye smile before returning his attention back to a still gawking Sakura. "I'm sorry, did you say something?"

Shaking off her shock, the pink-haired girl gave the man a suspicious glare. "You're kidding with us, right sensei? This is some prank that you and Naruto set up isn't it?" Sakura asked in an accusing tone.

"I assure you Sakura, this is no joke. See for yourself." Kakashi said with another eye smile as he pulled out a familiar looking scroll, causing Naruto to blink in surprise before looking down to see his kunai pouch open.

Taking the scroll from the silver-haired man, Sakura quickly unrolled it and started reading its contents, with Sasuke joining her a minute later once his curiosity got the better of him. As they took in the writing on the paper though, the former's eyes started bugging out while the latter quickly lost his interest and went back to his tree.

Once she was finished, Sakura slowly rolled the scroll back up before turning towards Star with an awkward cough. "Um… … I… I'm sorry, I was incredibly rude." She said as she gave a short bow. While she could have claimed that what was written on the scroll was still bull, the Hokage's seal on the bottom stamped out any doubt in her mind.

"Apology accepted." Star said with a nod and a smile, though the slight edge in her voice showed that this wasn't entirely true.

"So, now that we have that all settled, any particular reason that you two are so late today?" Kakashi asked, earning himself a dry look from Naruto that he ignored.

"That's kinda my fault," Star admitted with a sheepish grin.

-Thirty minutes earlier, Naruto's apartment-

"What the hell Star!" Naruto yelled as he and said princess hid behind his overturned dining table as a giant blob of cornflakes bashed at it with several tendrils. "I thought you said you were making the cereal un-stale, not bring it to freaking life!"

"I'm sorry! I just used the wrong wording!" Star yelled back before popping out of cover and pointing her wand at the breakfast monster. "Heart Dagger Blast!"

With a ray of pink light, dozens of red heart shaped blades flew from Star's wand and sliced the blob to bits. However, Star didn't relax one bit despite this, and for good reason as the pieces quickly started swarming back together.

"Darn it, that didn't work either." She grumbled while ducking back behind the table just as a tendril speared through the space she'd been occupying. They'd tried to smash, blast, burn, and now slice the thing to no avail, and Star was beginning to run out of spells that wouldn't cause too much collateral damage, which was the last thing she needed to deal with right now.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto called out while making a plus sign with his fingers, causing several copies of the whiskered blonde to appear in a puff of smoke that quickly jumped towards the blob. Most of the clones were easily swatted aside and dispelled, but that didn't deter the rest as they got in close and proceeded to punch, kick, or grapple whatever they could. "That's not going to hold it for long."

"Don't worry, I think I got it this time," Star said excitedly, her wand gaining a light blue glow as she popped back out from cover. "Freezing Winter Tund-Hey!" Just as she was about to cast the spell, a single tendril of cornflakes suddenly shot out and snatched her wand from her hand.

"Give that back!" The princess demanded as she tried to catch the wand, only for the tendril to shoot back into the main blob, the wand vanishing inside the cereal monster. "…Uh-oh. Naruto, we have a problem."

"Great," Naruto muttered as Star crouched beside him. "We're going to be killed by a cereal monster, not how I thought my ninja career would end."

"Yeah, eaten by our own breakfast, talk about irony." Star said with an awkward chuckle that Naruto shared.

…

"…Wait a second,"

Both blondes suddenly perked up as a crazy an idea popped up in their heads at the same time.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Star asked with a grin.

"Oh, I think I am." Naruto said, smirking as he held up a pair of spoons.

"Let's eat!" The both exclaimed at the same time as they jumped out of cover and at the monster with their 'weapons' raised.

-Back to Present-

"Man, that thing was delicious." Naruto said with a sigh as he rubbed his stomach.

"Yeah, best cereal ever." Star agreed, before holding up a glass jar that she got from… somewhere. "We even managed to save some for later."

Grabbing the container from the blonde girl, Kakashi held it up to his sole visible eye with a look of interest as he watched the small blob inside thrash around in a desperate attempt to escape. "Hmm, interesting, if you don't mind I'll be keeping this." ' _The R &D department are going to go nuts when they see this thing.'_

"No problem sensei, we got plenty to go around." Naruto said as Star held up another jar, causing a sweat drop to appear on the back of Kakashi's head.

"Right, well then, onto other business," The masked man said while putting the jar in one of his pockets. "Since this is your first official day as a genin, we'll be skipping the D-ranks today and going straight to training to see where you stand."

"Alright! No stupid D-ranks today!" Naruto cheered, before getting bopped on the head by Sakura.

"Stop acting so childish Naruto." She told him in a mildly berating tone even though she was doing the exact same thing in her head, not noticing the sour look Star sent her as she returned her attention back to Kakashi. "So what will we be doing Kakashi-sensei, more team building exercises?"

"Not right now, first we're going to have a few spars. And since I'm feeling gentlemanly, we'll have you two ladies go first." The cyclops said with an eye smile as he patted Sakura and Star on the head.

"Sweet! Let's get this fight going!" Star exclaimed while waving her wand, causing her to be enveloped in a brief glow of light. When it faded, the girl's clothes were replaced with slim knight armor with a metal skirt and a spiked helmet, while her wand had turned into a large Morningstar mace that the princess effortlessly twirled with one hand before resting it on her shoulder.

"…that's a big mace." Sakura murmured with a nervous gulp as her face rapidly lost all its color.

Thankfully for her though, Kakashi came to the rescue as he got in front of Star with a hand held up. "Woah, hold on Star-san. I'm glad that you're so enthusiastic, but this spar is going to be just taijutsu for now."

"Tai-what now?" The armored princess asked with a tilted head, earning herself surprised looks from Sakura and Sasuke, though the latter did a pretty good job at hiding it.

"He means you have to fight with your fists and feet only, no weapons or powers allowed." Naruto explained.

"Oh, okay," Star said as her wand turned back to normal and she tucked it into a sheath that she conjured on her waist before cracking her knuckles with a grin. "That's no problem for me."

' _Oh thank Kami,'_ Sakura thought with a silent sigh of relief, glad that she didn't have to deal with fighting this girl while she was using that big ass bludgeon. One trip to the hospital this week was good enough for her thank you very much.

"Alright then, just let us get out of the way real quick…" Kakashi started as he and Naruto backed up several feet, leaving the two girls alone in the clearing. "…and begin!"

-End Chapter-

An: Okay, just to be clear, I am NOT bashing on Sakura, I'm just trying to write her as I figured she'd react based on what I've seen from the anime. As explained in the chapter, she thought Naruto was the one to cause the explosion thus being the one responsible for blowing her eardrums out, so she did what she usual does… punch him. And based on the few episodes I've watched so far on SvtFoE, Star would react just like she did since as to her, some girl was being extremely rude and cruel to her new friend for no good reason, something she wouldn't like one bit. And finally, yes, the cereal monster bit was totally based on the cotton candy blob moment from Scooby Doo 2: Monster Unleashed. Thank you for reading and please review.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or SvtFoE franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy

Curiosity Broke the Scissors

-Chapter 4-

-Last Time-

 _'Oh thank Kami,' Sakura thought with a silent sigh of relief, glad that she didn't have to deal with fighting this girl while she was using that big ass bludgeon. One trip to the hospital this week was good enough for her thank you very much._

 _"Alright then, just let us get out of the way real quick…" Kakashi started as he and Naruto backed up several feet, leaving the two girls alone in the clearing. "…and begin!"_

-And Now, Two Minutes Later-

Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi sweatdropped as an unconscious Sakura was carried off on a stretcher by a pair off medic nin. The pinkette had a large fist shaped bruise covering the majority of the left side of her face and at least two teeth had been knocked out.

"Uh, I guess I went a little overboard?" Star said/asked from the middle of the training field with a mixed expression of confusion and satisfaction. The 'fight', if it could even be called that, had ended almost immediately after it started when Sakura tried to attack Star first and ended up taking an express trip to Lala Land via Air Fist-in-Face.

"Don't worry Star-san, it was an accident, it happens." Kakashi said with a wave of his hand." However, we'll have to call it a day since I need to go and explain what happened to the doctors and Sakura's parents."

With that said, the silver haired man followed after the medics, pulling an orange book out of his pocket as he went.

"Okay Kakashi-sensei, tell Sakura-chan I hope she's not too hurt when she wakes up!" Naruto yelled, getting a thumbs-up in response. "I guess that means we got some free time. Well, we could still train on our-"

"OOH! Now you can give me a tour like you promised!" Star cut him off excitedly, grabbing the boy by the collar and bolting away at high speed.

Sasuke simple stood in place with a dull look on his face, before pivoting on his heel and head in the exact opposite direction at the fastest casual looking pace he could managed.

"Whoa! Calm down Star-chan! You don't even know which way you're going!" Naruto exclaimed, getting the princess to skid to a stop.

"Oh, sorry, got a bit ahead of myself there." She said, rubbing the back of her head with a sheepish smile.

"It's fine, I did promise after all." Naruto said with a shrug as he regained his bearings and straightened out his jacket. "Now let's go, I can't wait to show you all my favorite places and we can get some shopping done along the way."

-A few Hours Later-

*Tick* … *Tick* … *Tick*

"Uh, bored, bored, sooooo freaking bored." One Ino Yamanaka groaned as she stared up at the sky through the open window of her family's flower shop, her head resting on one hand while the other fiddled with one of her ear-patches.

She'd been ecstatic earlier when her team's sensei had given her the day off because of her ear issues. However, after an hour or so, that excitement had quickly worn off when she discovered one crucial detail.

She had absolutely NOTHING to do!

 _'Can't go hang out with my friends cause they're all busy with school or training, daddy left on a mission, mom's off in Suna getting a rare blossom cactus, and there hasn't been a single customer for two hours.'_ Ino thought with a sigh, her finger tapping against her cheek as she tried to think of something to entertain herself with.

"…a clothing shop for shinobi but it's really pricey so I never go there, and over there is Yamanaka Flowers, its name kinda says it all."

' _So incredibly bo… wait a second, was that Naruto?'_ Ino thought, snapping out of her stupor of inactivity as her brain finally registered the owner of the voice that was drifting into her partially blocked ears.

Turning her gaze towards the source of the talking, the platinum blonde blinked in surprise when she saw the whiskered blonde walking down the street, and to her even larger shock he wasn't alone. Standing next to him was an oddly dressed blonde girl with heart marks on her cheeks as she excitedly looked at everything he pointed out.

Both had big grins on their faces as they talked, occasionally stopping to lick at the ice-cream cones they were holding.

Watching the pair walk until they were out of sight, Ino shot up from her seat and bolted out the door, flipping the open sign to closed along the way. ' _Goodbye boredom, hello new gossip!'_

"Well that's the end of the shopping district, and thus we have reached the end of our tour." Naruto said in a faux accent as he and Star flopped down onto a bench. "Please remember to not litter and to leave a tip for your handsome guide of the day on the way out."

"Hehehe, aye-aye sir," Star said with a giggle, giving her fellow blonde a mock salute before settling into her seat with a sigh. "Joking aside though, thanks for showing me around Naruto, it was great."

"Your welcome Star-chan, I'm glad you like it." Naruto said while taking a long lick of his ice-cream.

"How could I not, this place is amazing! You have a mountain with faces on it, lovely forests, and most importantly ice-cream!" The otherworldly princess exclaimed before ravaging the icy dessert in her grasp.

As this was going on, neither of them noticed that a certain gossip queen was spying on them with a pair of binoculars from inside a conveniently place bush.

"Sheesh, hasn't that girl ever heard of manners before? She's acting just like Naruto." Ino whispered to herself, a frown crossing her lips as she watched the 'mystery' girl splatter ice-cream all over herself while Naruto laughed. "Hmm, they also look a lot alike, so maybe they're relatives."

Setting her binoculars down and holding up a notebook she got from seemingly nowhere that had 'Gossip Theories' written across the front, the hidden blonde flipped it open to a blank page. Pulling a pen out from the ringed spine, she pulled the cap off with her teeth and quickly started jotting things down.

"A visiting cousin perhaps, that would explain why she needed a tour and her odd clothing." Ino muttered as she wrote. "But then Aunt Mai would have told me about her after she was admitted into the village." Her aunt ran the immigration and visitation station at the gates, so anyone who wanted to enter Konoha had to go past her. "But she can't be from here, I would have definitely have heard of her before if that was the case."

Before she could dwell on this thought further, Ino was snapped back to the real world when she noticed her 'targets' starting to move.

"Alright, that's enough wasting time. We should get home and get all this stuff put away." Naruto said as he stood up, pulling a scroll out of his pocket for a second.

"Ooh, then when we're done we could play a game, or have a movie night, or both." Star suggested, dancing in place excitedly.

"That sounds great to me." Naruto said with a grin.

"Then what are we waiting for, let's g-Whoa!" Star started to exclaim, before yelping in surprise when Naruto suddenly scooped her up into a bridal carry. That yelp then turned into a cheer as the whiskered blonde leapt high into the air and began roof jumping towards his… their apartment.

"Crap! They're getting away!" Ino whisper-yelled, stashing her book away as she abandoned her cover to chase after the pair.

It only took a few minutes for the two blondes (plus their unknown extra) to cross the village and reach Naruto's apartment building. Not bothering with the door, Naruto hopped straight into the living room through the window.

Setting Star back on her feet, Naruto then pulled out the scroll again and unfurled it across the floor, revealing an odd squiggly drawing. This was a basic storage seal, used to hold a variety of different things for easy transport.

"According to the clerk I place my hand here, then just channel a little chakra into it… and voila." Naruto said happily as the scroll glowed briefly before a large box, a matress, and a few shopping bags appeared in a puff of smoke. "I wish I knew of these things before, just imagine all the ramen I could carry with me."

"Or candy." Star added idly as both blondes zoned out, drooling as their active imaginations conjured images of such a sight.

Meanwhile, across the street on a rooftop, Ino was once again spying on her fellow blondes, holding up her binoculars with one hand while the other was writing away in her notebook.

"Okay, whoever this Star girl is, she is so not just visiting," Ino muttered as she focused in on the box Naruto had just unsealed, her eyes narrowing at the picture of a bed drawn on the side. "This definitely supports my theory that they're family though. I mean, why else would anyone willingly live with Naruto of all people?"

…

"Wow, that sounded a lot less bitchy in my head." Ino said with a frown, before shaking her head as she focused back on her 'targets'.

Snapping out of his ramen fantasy, Naruto moved the bags and mattress to the side before holding up his hands out in front of himself in a cross shape. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Then, to the surprise of both Star and Ino, two copies of the whiskered blonde appeared on either side of the box in a puff of smoke.

"Holy Stump! There are three of you!" Star exclaimed with widened eyes, jabbing her finger at the clones as they lifted the box up and started carrying it towards the bedroom. However, before they got more than a few feet, the two doppelgangers suddenly found themselves under assault by the excited princess.

"Pretty neat huh?" The original asked rhetorically, chuckling a bit as he watched Star poking and prodding the poor clones with sparkling eyes.

"I thought only Lady Hekapoo could copy herself like this. How long do they last? Can they do everything you can? How many can you make?" Star asked rapidly while still continuing her 'examination'.

"Naruto can make solid clones?! Since when?!" Ino yelled in confusion. Last she checked, Naruto couldn't even do the utmost basic Bunshin no Jutsu, which created illusionary copies of the user to fool enemies, yet here he was casually doing a clearly more advanced version like it was nothing.

"…You know, I actually don't know." Naruto admitted after thinking those questions over after a moment. He'd only known this jutsu for a few weeks now and whenever he did use it he generally just spammed it like crazy, with the clones he created getting destroyed or dispelled shortly afterwards. "I'm actually kinda curious now that I think about *Poof* *Thunk* …it."

A dull look crossed the whiskered boy's face as Star gave him a sheepish grin while waving the smoke out of her face from the clone she'd accidentally popped. "Hehehe, whoops."

Shaking his head with a smile, Naruto walked over to where the clone used to be and picked up the now unoccupied side of the box. "Come on, we still need to set this thing up in the bedroom. It'll be a bit of a tight fit but we'll mana- What are you doing?" He cut himself off when he saw Star rush towards the bedroom with her glowing wand raised.

Instead of answering him, the princess kicked the door open and pointed her wand inside with a wide grin. "Glitter Sparkle Bomb Expand!" She yelled before the magic stick a bright array of sparkling colors blinded everyone.

When it cleared, Naruto's jaw hit the floor and he lost his grip on the boxed bed frame, causing it to squish his unfortunately equally stunned clone out of existence. What had once been his somewhat small but cozy bedroom was now a large castle-like three story room with Naruto's bed now turned into a four poster and all sorts of weapons, plushies, and other such stuff littered everywhere (Search Star's room for better description).

"What... the… fuck?" He swore quietly, his eyes threatening to pop out of his head as he tried to comprehend what just happened.

Meanwhile, Ino accidentally crushed her binoculars and pen in shock as a castle tower suddenly erupted from the side of Naruto's apartment.

Giggling at his reaction, Star skipped into the room and flopped onto Naruto's transformed bed before looking back at him with a smirk. "Pretty neat, huh?"

These words managed to snap Naruto out of his stupor and he stepped into the room. "Neat? Neat doesn't even come close. This is amazing!" He exclaimed while swiveling his head around, taking in every inch of the room he could. "There's so much room in here! And look at all this cool stuff!"

"I know right!" Star said as she bounced on the bed like a little kid on a sugar high. "I knew you were going to love-"

*Bang-Bang-Bang-Bang*

Both blondes stopped cold as their heads snapped towards the living room, where they could hear something furiously banging against the front door.

"Who could that be?" Naruto asked as he and Star stuck their heads out the bedroom.

"Only one way to find out." Star said with a shrug before they walked up to the shaking slab of wood.

*Bang-Bang-Bang-Bang*

"Hold your horses! I'm coming!" Naruto yelled in irritation. Seriously, what is with people constantly bashing on his door, didn't anyone know how to knock normally.

Pulling the door open, Naruto opened his mouth to give whoever was on the other side a piece of his mind, only to be caught flat-footed when Ino of all people came barging in with a crazed look in her eyes. Before he could recover from his surprise, she grabbed his collar and pulled him right up to her face.

"You! Clones! New girl! Castle outside! What the fuck!" Ino screamed at the top of her lungs, sounding like she was seconds away from a panic attack thanks to her ragged breathing and shaking form.

"Uh, what?" Naruto asked in a confused and slightly frightened tone, sweat pouring off of his forehead as the gossip queen stared at him intensely with narrowed eyes.

"Don't play dumb with me! There's part of a freaking castle sticking- hey!" Ino exclaimed midsentence when Naruto was pulled out of her grasp by Star. Said princess then raised her once again glowing wand towards the crazed gossiper, a spell on the edge of her tongue.

"Whoa! Easy there, Star!" Naruto exclaimed, shoving Star's hands down before getting between the two girls with his arms held out. "Would both of you calm down please, somebody's gonna get hurt if you keep this up."

At first he thought his plea had been in vain as the pair continued to glare at each-other, and him in Ino's case, but after a few more moments they both thankfully backed off.

Taking a few deep breaths to help herself calm down, Ino shook her head before offering Naruto and Star an awkward smile. "Ehem, wow, sorry about that. I kinda went a little nuts there, didn't i?"

"Just a little bit," Naruto said with a roll of his eyes. "Now mind explaining the sudden visit? Or better yet, how do you know where I live?"

"Oh come on Naruto, it's me, I know everything that's going on in this village, you know that." Ino said with a scoff.

"No, the only things I know about you is your family runs a flower shop and that you like to punch me in the face while calling me an idiot." Naruto said dully, causing the gossip queen to blink in surprise. "In fact, I'm pretty sure this is the only time we've ever actually talked to each-other."

"What? No, what about when…" Ino started to say as she tried to recall any interaction she'd had with her fellow blonde, only to end up trailing off as she ended up draw one big fat blank.

Well except for…

-Mini-flashbacks-

-Classroom-

"Naruto-Baka!" Ino yelled as she punched Naruto out of his seat. She then proceeded to take said seat and get into an argument with Sakura who was in the seat right next to her.

-Outside Ninja Academy-

Naruto was happily eating his lunch underneath a tree when Ino's fist suddenly collided against his face, sending him tumbling away. "Move it Baka!" She yelled before plonking down where he had been, which happened to be a few feet away from Sasuke.

-Yamanaka Flowers-

Naruto walked up to the counter with a bonsai Sakura, something he was planning to give Sakura for her birthday tomorrow. However, the moment he got close Ino punched him straight out of the shop without looking up from her fashion magazine while muttering, "Baka." under her breath.

-End flashbacks-

"Okay, you have a good point," Ino admitted with a sheepish grin. "Anyway, I heard that there was a girl living with you now and I came over to meet her. Then I saw a castle tower grow out the side of your apartment and everything is a blur after that."

"Yeah, that through me for a loop too." Naruto said while nodding his head in understanding. "Well, since you're already here I'll explain the whole story. Do you mind helping us set up a bed while we talk?"

"Sure." Ino said with a shrug, not seeing a problem with it.

And so, once again Naruto and Star went through the series of events that had transpired which resulted with the latter living with the former. Naturally, Ino was stunned by the new bedroom when she saw it herself, spending a good long while gawking over every inch of it.

She was also just a bit peeved when she put two and two together and realized that it was the princess that had caused the explosion at the hotspring, though she was quick to forgive once it was pointed out to be an accident.

However, this ended up causing another thing that Ino was curious about to pop into the front of her mind.

"How the hell are both of you perfectly fine? I have to wear these things for at least two more days, and I was on the other side of the hotspring. You guys were literally in the middle of the explosion." Ino said, pointing at the patches in her ears as she held a pink headrest with a butterfly hole carved in the middle in place while Naruto and Star lined up the frame and foot of the bed.

"Dimensional scissors have an enchantment that prevents the user from being harmed mid transport." Star said as she clicked her side into place, that being one of the many facts she learned while studying how the scissors worked.

"And I just heal fast, I was all better before we reached the hospital." Naruto said while doing the same, before frowning when Ino gave him a disbelieving look. "What?"

"You honestly expect me to believe that you simply healed from an explosion, in your face, all by yourself, in just a few minutes?" The gossip queen asked incredulously. "Stop trying to act cool Naruto and just tell me- what the hell are you doing?!"

"Naruto!?" Star yelled as said whiskered blonde pulled out a kunai from his weapon pouch and used it to make a small cut on his palm before holding it out towards Ino. Both girls then watched in shock as the injury stitched itself back, and in less then a minute was completely gone.

"Believe me now?" Naruto asked rhetorically as he wiped the blood off on his pantleg, getting a weak nod in response. "Good, now let's get the mattress in here, otherwise we won't be able to do movie night."

"Oh right, I almost forgot about that." Star said excitedly, grabbing Naruto as she ran to the living room, seeming to have forgotten that her new friend had just sliced open his hand to prove a point.

Ino wasn't so lucky, but thanks to her clan training in mental fortitude, which she totally didn't forget earlier, she was able to shake it off quickly. ' _Sheesh, first he can make solid clones and now he can heal ridiculously fast, what else do I not know about you Naruto.'_

If there was one thing Ino really hated, it was not knowing something about someone she knew, it spoke badly of her status as Konoha's queen of gossip. Sure, she respected other peoples right to have secrets, most of the time, the fact Naruto had been so open with such facts meant that they weren't exactly secrets to begin with.

' _Dad was right, I really do tend to judge and dismiss books by their covers.'_ She thought with a sigh as she watched Naruto and Star waddle through the door with the mattress in hand before going over to help them.

It only took a few minutes to finish up the bed and get the bags, which had food and new clothes for Star, put away. During that time, Ino and Star chatted more and to the former's surprise ended up hitting it off rather well.

So well in fact, that the gossip queen even ended up agreeing to stay for the impromptu movie night. It's not like her parents would mind since they were both out of the village.

Now here she was, sitting back in a fluffy pink recliner with a table full of different snack, and ramen, munching on a few chips as she waited for Naruto, who was in the bathroom, and Star, who was fiddling around with the large mirror in the bedroom for some reason.

' _Maybe she's actually trying to get it to reflect something properly.'_ She thought with a giggle. When she'd tried to check herself out in it earlier, her reflection had been extremely blurry and the words 'No Service' blinking in the corner.

*Creak*

"Huh?" Ino's head jerked to the side instinctually when she heard the sound of groaning wood but didn't see anything. After a few more seconds of nothing, she shrugged it off as just one of the other residents and settled back into her seat, shivering a bit as a breeze grazed her side. "Sheesh, I really need to chill before I start to jump at my own shadow."

"What about your shadow?" Naruto asked as he and Star walked into the room.

"Nothing, just thinking aloud." The gossip queen said with a wave of her hand. "So what are we gonna watch?"

"Nightmare in Erumu no Tochi 3: Dream Warriors." Naruto said, turning the TV and putting a tape in the VCR before grabbing two bowls of ramen and handing one to Star as he flopped down next to her.

"Oh, good choice." Ino said with a nod as she stuffed a few more chips into her mouth. "Not as good as the first one, but definitely better than the second."

"Yeah, they really cheaped out on Return to Erumu no Tochi." Naruto agreed with a shake of his head while taking a bite of his ramen as the movie started. As soon as the noodles touched his taste-buds though, the whiskered blonde paused with a confused look. "What the heck? This ramen is sweet."

"Really?" Star asked before taking a bite of her own. "Huh weird, maybe I accidentally used sugar instead of salt."

"Yeah, that's probably it." Naruto said with a shrug, eating a few more bites before putting the bowl down. Ramen lover he may be, but he wasn't really a fan of the sweetness in this one, unlike Star who quickly wolfed down her bowl then Naruto's in just a few seconds.

After that the trio fell into a comfortable silence as they enjoyed the movie, only broken by the occasional scream of fright from Star during particularly scary moments. However, as the night drew late, the princess became increasingly uncomfortable, and it had nothing to do with the film.

Her stomach was starting to ache, she kept feeling an odd crawling sensation under her skin that she couldn't help but scratch at, and there was this odd pressure-like sensation in the back of her throat that was vaguely familiar to her.

It hadn't been too bad when it had first started, just a minor annoyance that she could easily ignore. But over time it had become increasingly worse, to the point that when they were near the end of the movie it was almost unbearable.

She did her best to hide this however as she didn't want to ruin the night for them by complaining. Such a task wasn't too hard as both Ino and Naruto were too engrossed with the movie to notice her discomfort much, and when they did easily bought her excuse that it was just the film itself putting her on edge.

Just as the main protagonist was about to finally defeat the ghostly monster Kreddy Fruger once and for all (Or at least until the next sequel) though, she ended up figuring out what that feeling in her throat was the hard way.

"Oh Stump, I think I'm gonna-" *Bleugh* Star groaned as she tried to stand up, only to end up collapsing as she started vomiting all over the floor.

"Star-chan!" "Star-san!" Naruto and Ino yelled in alarm and confusion while rushing to their feet to help the poor girl. Before Naruto could take more than a single step however, he stopped as a strong sensation of vertigo flooded through his senses, blurring his vision, knocking the wind out of him, and destroying his sense of balance.

"What the… what's going…on?" He demanded groggily, shaking his head as he tried to go over to Star and Ino, which only resulted with him stumbling around in a drunken-like manner.

"What are you doing Naruto?! This is no time to goof around!" Ino yelled angrily, rubbing the princess's back as she dry-heaved.

"I'm not goof… goofing around… somethings wroOONG!" *Crash* Naruto screamed as he lost his footing altogether and fell onto the snack table, causing Ino to flinch.

Before she could go over to check if he was alright though, her attention was drawn back to Star when said girl gasped in shock.

"No… this is impossible… this can't be happening… not again." Star muttered between breaths, her eyes wide with confusion, shock, denial, and fear as she stared at her arms.

"What's wrong Star? Are you sick? Did you eat something you're allergic to?" Ino asked worriedly, only to be ignored as the princess continued to mutter to herself. Looking down to see what was causing her to freak out so much, Ino blinked in surprise as she saw…

"Purple hearts?"

-End Chapter-

AN: I'll be honest, I don't think I did very good this chapter. If you disagree then that's nice but personally I feel like I could have done better, I just don't know how, so any advice or tips would be wonderful. Internet cookies to whoever can guess what is happening to Star and Naruto, and why it is happening. I wasn't dissing Ino this chapter, but I did exaggerate her gossiper tendencies for comedy's sake.

As for Star one-shotting Sakura, that's simple. Sakura barely takes her training seriously at this point while Star regularly fights monsters several times her size with and without her wand easily and was in canon stated to have learned how to snap a neck when she was just a toddler. What do you think would happen? Thank you for reading and please review.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclamer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Svtfoe franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy

Curiosity Broke the Scissors

-Chapter 5-

-Last Time-

 _"No… this is impossible… this can't be happening… not again." Star muttered between breaths, her eyes wide with confusion, shock, denial, and fear as she stared at her arms._

 _"What's wrong Star? Are you sick? Did you eat something you're allergic to?" Ino asked worriedly, only to be ignored as the princess continued to mutter to herself. Looking down to see what was causing her to freak out so much, Ino blinked in surprise as she saw…_

 _"Purple hearts?"_

-And Now, One Day Later-

The Hokage had a deep frown across his face as he marched into Konoha's hospital, not even reacting when the nurse at the front desk nervously bowed to him when he passed. Going through several hallways at a surprisingly fast pace for a man of his age, the elderly leader soon arrived at a door with two ANBU blocking the way.

As soon as he got close, the masked men moved out of the way with a salute, allowing him to through. Waving them down as he opened the doorway, Hiruzen found himself standing in an observation area with a pair of doctors milling about checking equipment or looking through the thick glass wall into a containment room holding Star, Naruto, and Ino.

The room was almost entirely bare, with the only 'décor' consisting of a trio of beds and heartrate monitors. Ino was sitting in her bed with a mixture of boredom and nervousness written across her face as she read a fashion magazine while Naruto was kneeling next to Star's bed with a worried expression as he rubbed the girl's back comfortingly.

Both of the former blondes appeared to be just fine, but the princess was another case all together. Most of her face and hair had turned a dark violet color along with almost her entire body and even her clothes, the iris and pupil of her left eye had turned into a solid lavender heart shape, and four extra arms had grown from her chest.

Her wings was quintupled in size forcing her to lay on her side, and several piles of translucent purple hearts lay across the bed many more formed and peeled off Star's body every second. All that aside though, the girl herself seemed to be feeling a bit better, though she looked absolutely exhausted and slightly nauseated.

Seeing Hiruzen enter, the two doctors stopped what they were doing and bowed respectfully. "Hokage-sama."

"I received a message that you'd figured out what we're dealing with." The elderly man said, getting a pair of nods in response. "Alright then, how bad is it."

"Not horrible but not great either," The first doctor, a generic looking male with brown hair, said. "The good news is it's not a disease or virus like we feared, so there is no worry of infection."

"And the bad news?" Hiruzen asked before accepting several test results from the second doctor, an equally generic looking woman with black hair.

"We found refined Tsukiakari (Moonlight Lily) extract in both Butterfly-san and Uzumaki-san's bloodstream and… stomach contents."

"Tsukiakari? Are you sure?" The Hokage asked, his frown deepening as he read over the contents of the folder. Tsukiakari extract, also known as Amai suimin (Sugary Sleep), was a rare but extremely potent sedative capable of affecting even jinchuuriki.

"Positive sir, and based on their and Yamanaka-san's testimonies, we believe that it was laced into their food just before they started eating." The female doctor explained. "We've informed the ANBU and they did a full sweep of the apartment."

"Good work, though this does not explain Star-san's condition." Hiruzen said while setting the files down.

"Actually it does sir," Guy doctor said to the elderly man's surprise.

"Explain."

"As I'm sure you are aware sir, Butterfly-san isn't human." Lady doctor stated, handing Hiruzen several more files. "Externally she looks identical to one, with the exception of her wings, but internally and genetically is a whole other story. Her heart is half the size of normal, she has only one kidney naturally, her liver is where the other kidney should be, the lungs-"

"We'll have a full report sent to R&D later," Guy doctor cut off his companion's rambling. "But to get straight to the point, because the patient's biology differs so much from our own, the Tsukiakari caused a dangerous allergic reaction in her. That in turn has forced her to start undergoing this change, which from what she's told us and what we've gathered so far is simply her body fortifying itself."

Nodding his head in understanding as he finished reading the test results, Hiruzen turned his attention back to the Isolation room where Naruto was now helping Star drink some water. "Will she be alright then?"

"Hai Hokage-sama, we already flushed the Tsukaikari out of Butterfly-san's system and she should revert back to normal once she has physically recovered from the drug's poisonous effects. In fact we were actually getting ready to discharge her." Lady doctor said with a nod.

"Already?" The Hokage asked with a raised brow. "Would it not be wiser to wait until she has changed back?"

"We've done all we can for her here sir, all she needs now is lots of fluids and rest." Guy doctor explained. "Besides, given the evidence we've found, I believe it is unwise to leave her in such a… public location for a prolonged period of time."

Understanding what the doctor was hinting at, Hiruzen nodded his head as he set the files down and turned to leave. "Very well then, but make sure that there are at least two ANBU tailing them when you do so."

He wished he could stay longer, but he had work to do. Tsukaikari was grown and made exclusively in Konoha and used only by the best of the hidden village's ANBU corps, which meant only one thing.

' _There is a traitor or traitors in my village.'_

-Unknown Location-

Inside a small cave-like room lit up by a solitary lamp, a solitary old man with short black hair and most of his face covered in bandages and one arm in a sling sat behind a plain wooden desk with a calm contemplating look, not even blinking when a man wearing a plain porcelain mask with the kanji for 'Root' on the forehead appeared before him in a static blur.

"Danzo-sama, my mission is completed." The masked man said with a bow before setting down a scroll on the now named Danzo's desk. "Despite the setbacks I was able to acquire all everything you requested."

The bandaged man didn't say a word as he reached out with his good arm and unrolled the scroll, revealing a storage seal in the center of the parchment. Placing his palm in the middle of this seal, it lit up with a soft blue glow before expelling a small puff of smoke.

When it cleared, there now sat a vial filled with blood, another vial with a swap inside it, a tuft of blonde hair, and a small bag filled with familiar purple hearts.

Examining these items with a critical eye, Danzo let the smallest of smiles cross his lips for a moment before returning back to his neutral expression. "You have done well. However, your original failure has drawn attention and that is still inexcusable. You know the consequences for such a mistake."

"Of course Danzo-sama." The masked man said, drawing a kunai from his hip pouch… and slitting his own throat with it.

Danzo didn't even bat an eye as he watch his subordinate commit suicide without even a seconds hesitation, simply watching until the man was completely dead before waving his hand, causing two more identically dressed men to appear at either side of him. "Use him for the Mole Contingency, that should throw Hiruzen off our scent for the time being."

"Hai Danzo-sama," The two men said before dragging off their deceased comrade, leaving the old man alone once more.

Once they were gone, Danzo picked up the vial of blood once more and held it up to the light with an intrigued look. "The blood of a being from another dimension, the secrets you hold will no doubt be quite… intriguing."

-Outside the Hospital, one hour later-

"Ah, fresh air at last." Naruto sighed as he, Ino, and a completely transformed Star walked out the front doors. However, his elation quickly faded as he turned towards his now purple friend with concern as she leaned against him for support.

"I know right, that stale chemical smell was starting to drive me nuts." The princess said with a tired smile, her legs wobbling a bit as she walked.

"Are you sure you're good to go Star-chan? You still seem pretty sick." Naruto said worriedly.

"You heard the doctor Naruto, I'm fine," Star said with a nonchalant wave of her hand. "I just need a nap and some water."

"Still, maybe we should stay a bit longer and…" Naruto trailed off as Ino gripped his shoulder.

"Relax Naruto, the doc said Star-san's okay, so I'm sure she is." The platinum blonde told him reassuringly, though it wasn't very convincing since she was continually sending her own concerned glances at Star from the corner of her eye. "All we can do is follow they say and hope they're right."

"…Fine." Naruto agreed reluctantly.

"Good, now if you two will excuse me, I need to get back home and make sure the store's doing okay." Ino said before she ran off, turning around briefly to wave goodbye. "Hope you feel better soon Star-san, I'll be over tonight to see how you're doing."

"Looking forward to it Ino!" Star called back happily with a wave in return until Ino was no longer in sight. "Now come on Naruto, let's get home already, we still have to finish movie night!"

Unable to help himself, Naruto smiled at the transformed girl's happy attitude as they continued along. "Alright Star-chan, since you insist."

Star didn't say much else as they walked, mostly because she was still pretty worn out from the Tsukaikari wreaking havoc in her body, though that wasn't much of a problem as Naruto more than made up for it as he told her about the various other movies he had.

They tried roof-hopping briefly but ended up going the long way instead when Star's stomach decided to do a few backflips each jump.

However, as they walked the otherworldly princess started to feel an odd dreadful prickling sensation on the back of her neck, one that she'd never felt before but had been told of by her father many times.

-Mini-Flashback-

 _"Remember Star, all Mewman are born with a natural sixth sense, one that warns us when there are those nearby who wish us Ill-will." A short stout man with long blonde beard said seriously to an adorable toddler-aged Star, who was hanging on to the man's every word with awed eyes. "So if you ever, ever feel a sense of sudden prickling along your neck, be very wary okay."_

 _"Okey dokie daddy!" Little Star said cheerily, her young mind not understanding the seriousness of her father's words._

-Mini-Flashback End-

Being a member of royalty, Star had never had to deal with such issues her whole life thanks to her status, thus she had never felt this sensation her father described. Not even when Ludo attacked her, as he was more focused on stealing her wand than truly trying to hurt her.

So it came as quite the unwelcome surprise to the princess when this feeling hit her out of the blue, making her stumble slightly before Naruto caught her.

"Whoa, easy there Star-chan. Are you alright?" Naruto asked worriedly.

"huh… yeah… I just tripped," She said quickly, rubbing the back of her neck instinctually as she regained her balance. "I guess I'm just a bit more tired than I thought."

Buying her small fib without a second thought, Naruto smiled softly with a nod before grabbing the topmost of the princess's left arms and slinging it over his shoulders. "All the more reason to get home right away then, huh?"

"Yeah…" Star said with a weak smile while they continued to walk. However, once Naruto looked away that smile was immediately replaced with a frown as the princess looked around for the source of her sudden unease.

…

She wished she hadn't.

Several men and women that were walking down the street had stopped in order to stare at her and Naruto as they passed by. Several were simply curious, surprised, or intrigued looking, but just as many if not more of them were glaring at her and Naruto with such strong anger or disgust that it sent chills down her spine.

Star cringed slightly as she saw all the hostile before scooching a bit closer to the whiskered blonde, scared at the unexpected amount of hostility she was receiving…

" _What the fuck is that thing?"_

…and that's when the whispers reached her ears.

" _Must be some freak made by Orochimaru."_

" _Disgusting thing, why are the ninja not killing it?"_

" _First the Kyuubi brat, then the Snake whore, and now this monstrosity!?"_

" _I'm moving out of this village fist thing tomorrow."_

" _What a horrible creature,"_

" _Fucking freakshow, what is it doing in our village?"_

" _Don't go near it dear, it's probably dangerous."_

Star recoiled as her enhanced hearing picked up every little whisper, each word feeling like a knife stabbing into her heart over and over again.

"Star-chan? What's wrong?" Naruto asked as he felt the transformed princess tighten her grip around him and start shivering violently. Star didn't say anything, opting to simply hug the whiskered blonde with an iron grip as she quickened her pace.

" _Great, like we don't have enough freaks already."_

" _Look at that girl, she's so creepy looking."_

" _Ugh, no wonder she hangs out with the Kyuubi brat, such an ugly thing."_

" _Look at that monster."_

Star walked even faster as dozens upon dozens of harsh insults washed over her, each one crueler then the last. She tried to ignore them, tried to just keep moving, but the cruel words just kept worming their way into her ears.

"… _Freak…"_

 _"…Thing…."_

 _"…Ugly beast..."_

' _Why are they calling me that? Why are they so angry? Did I do something wrong?'_ The princess wondered with slightly watering eyes. She didn't understand, after the last time she went into her Mewberty form everyone had told her that it was rather cute, even with the whole her going boy crazy.

So why were these people talking about her so horribly?

"… _Nasty thing."_

 _"…Disgusting abomination."_

 _"…Monster."_

 _"Monster."_

 _"Monster!"_

"Star-chan!" Star jumped in shock at the sudden call, before blinking in confusion when she found herself sitting on her new bed with Naruto sitting next to her with a worried expression.

"Wha… when did we… how?" She muttered as she started to get up, only for the whiskered blonde to push her back down.

"Hey, hey, hey, easy there Star-chan, easy," Naruto said while letting go of Star and cupping her cheeks, which were soaked with tears. "What's wrong? You zoned out there for a bit. Is your stomach hurting again? Should we go back to the-Whoa!"

The blonde was cut off midsentence when the princess grabbed him with all six arms and pulled him into a hug while burying head into the crook of his's neck. Now thoroughly confused at what was going on, Naruto started to reach up to pull Star off him but stopped when he felt the sobs rocking through her body.

"They kept calling me monster. An ugly freak. A horrible abomination. Over and over and over." Star mumbled as she cried into Naruto's jacket. "Why did they keep calling me a monster Naruto? Why?"

Eyes widening in realization, Naruto swore mentally as he hugged Star with one arm and gently rubbed her head with the other. ' _Kami dammit! I am a Baka! I am such a stupid Baka!'_

Of course many of the villagers wouldn't take Star's new appearance well, especially since he had been right next to her the whole time. He felt like such a moron for not realizing such a thing earlier, and now because of his blunder, Star had to go through almost half the village while being heckled ruthlessly.

Unfortunately, he had absolutely no idea how to console the crying girl, given his own lack of emotional support when growing up. All Naruto could think of was to hold Star close and gently stroke her head in what he hoped was a soothing manner after creating a clone to get the first person he could think of who could help right now. "Don't listen to what those Bakas said Star-chan, they're nothing but a bunch of jerks who like to be mean."

While his words were spoken unsurely, they appeared to work somewhat as Star's sobbing eased up just a little bit and she managed to peek up at him with a bloodshot eye. "…Why?"

"I honestly don't know, maybe they like being mean," Naruto muttered with a shrug, gaining a bit more confidence as he continued to pet the girl's head. "Or perhaps they're just jealous about how cute you are right now."

Her crying stopping almost altogether now, Star sniffled softly as she raised her head the rest of the way, leaving several thin purple webbing-like strands stretching from her nose to Naruto's shoulder.

"You-*hic* you think I'm cute?" She asked, hiccupping slightly as she spoke.

"Are you kidding? You're absolutely adorable." Naruto said with an honest grin while cupping the girl's cheek. "And anyone who tells you otherwise is a big fat lying Teme."

Unable to help herself, Star smiled briefly in return before burying her head in the crook of his neck once more while Naruto went back to rubbing her head, only now her previous crying was replaced with the occasional sniffle.

They stayed like that for a long time, no more words spoken as the whiskered blonde comforted the otherworldly princess as best he could. It was to this sight that Naruto's clone was greeted with when he finally returned with Ino in tow.

"Oh jeez, I was really hoping you were exaggerating." The gossip queen muttered to the clone as they slowly walked up to the pair sitting on the bed.

"Me too Ino, me too." The clone said before dispersing.

-End Chapter-

AN: To be clear, I am NOT bashing the villagers, and I am NOT making this a cliché over-hate fest. I am merely writing what I feel like would be the realistic reaction towards Star's mewberty form, which is that she would likely receive a lot of negative attention because of it and her being in Naruto's company. With that out of the way, this chapter is my first attempt at writing about someone receiving and reacting to harsh verbal abuse and it's really a subject of writing that I don't have much experience in, so any advice would be welcome. Thank you for reading and please review.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Svtfoe franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy

Curiosity Broke the Scissors

-Chapter 6-

-Last Time-

 _They stayed like that for a long time, no more words spoken as the whiskered blonde comforted the otherworldly princess as best he could. It was to this sight that Naruto's clone was greeted with when he finally returned with Ino in tow._

 _"Oh jeez, I was really hoping you were exaggerating." The gossip queen muttered to the clone as they slowly walked up to the pair sitting on the bed._

 _"Me too Ino, me too." The clone said before dispersing._

-And Now-

"Thanks for this Ino." Naruto said quietly as he and Ino watched a somewhat recovered Star enjoying a bowl of rainbow sherbet as she giggled at a comedy movie he'd put on for her, Gary the Label Guy. "I'll pay you back as soon as I can, I promise."

"Don't worry about it Naruto, this is my treat." Ino said with a wave of her hand while she served herself and her fellow blonde some mint chocolate chip. ' _And by me I mean my Mom, thank kami she showed me where the emergency 'Emotional Breakdown' scroll was before she left.'_

Being a clan that specialized with the human mind, and more than a few being outright psychologists, almost every single Yamanaka had such a scroll somewhere in their homes or on their person. Said scrolls consisted of just about everything someone might need to give someone emotional support, from comfort foods such as ice-cream and sweets to stuffed animals and soothing incense.

"I wasn't talking about the Ice-cream," Naruto stated as he accepted the bowl Ino offered him, "Thanks for dropping whatever you were doing to help Star-chan, she really needed it."

"Again, don't mention it, I'm just glad to help out a friend." Ino said, patting the whiskered blonde's shoulder comfortingly with a smile. "Besides, you looked to be doing just fine cheering her up by yourself."

However, instead of smiling back, Naruto sighed with a deep frown as he slowly took a bite of his minty dessert. "Yeah right, it's my fault that she got so upset in the first place."

"Oh please, so a bunch of idiots decided they wanted to be pricks. How could that possibly be your fault?" Ino asked.

"Because I should have known that it would happen, Kami knows I have to deal with people's Kuso enough to know how bad they can be." Naruto grumbled bitterly, earning a raised brow from his fellow blonde.

"Aren't you being a bit overdramatic Naruto? So people ragged on you a bit for being a baka and those stupid pranks of yours, it can't be that bad." Ino said with a frown of her own.

" _If only that was the problem."_ Naruto muttered under his breath almost too quietly to hear… almost.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ino demanded, her brow rising even higher at the whiskered blonde's remark.

"Nothing, it's nothing," Naruto said quickly while mentally swearing for thinking aloud. "Look, forget I said anything."

Before Ino could say anything in response, Naruto walked away and sat down next to Star, who immediately wrapped two of her left arms around his waist and pulled him close as they watched the show.

' _That didn't sound like nothing.'_ The damage was already done though. The blonde had poked the sleeping beast and caused it to stir as Ino stared at him with a mixture of confusion, curiosity, and suspicion. ' _What are you hiding Naruto?'_

Whatever it was, the idea of her finding out scared the hell out of Naruto if the way his voice had hitched meant anything, and that in itself was surprising as she had never seen him freaked out like that.

' _Though given what I've learned since yesterday, that's not really surprising huh?'_ Ino thought as she took her spot in the unoccupied recliner. If someone had told her two days ago that she'd be hanging out in Naruto's apartment, eating ice-cream while helping him comfort his roommate, she would have laughed her ass off before punching them in the face.

Yet here she was, in that exact situation, while having her whole perspective of Naruto shredded to pieces like paper in a blender. Where she had once seen nothing but an annoying loudmouthed idiot, she now found a complex puzzle of confounding enigmas that only grew more confusing the deeper she dug into it.

In fact, there were two questions in particular that have been nagging at her for a while now, even before all this craziness happened, and now was good as any time to get answers.

"Hey Naruto," Ino called out, causing her fellow blonde and Star to look towards her, the former with a look screaming 'Don't push it'. "I've been wondering, how did you become a genin? And when did you get so good with clones? You couldn't even make a single one back in the academy."

"Oh, that," Naruto said with a slightly relieved look on his face while Star looked towards him curiously. "Well, you remember Iruka-sensei's assistant?"

"Mizuki-sensei? Yeah. Why? What's he got to do with anything?" Ino asked, her brow rising once more.

"Everything," Naruto replied with grit teeth, making the gossip queen blink in surprise. "Turns out that Teme was a traitor and tried to use me to steal from the village."

"Really? Huh, that explains why he was missing when we were assigned teams. What happened exactly?" Ino asked eagerly, her inner gossiper already hooked while Star simply listened with a curious look.

"He found me after I failed graduation… and tricked me with a fake remake test," Naruto explained, frowning as he remembered how Mizuki duped him. "Told me if I stole a certain scroll from the Hokage Vault and learned a single technique from it then I'd pass."

"You broke into the Hokage vault!? So that's why the village went into a huge panic that day!" Ino exclaimed with widened eyes before blinking and giving Naruto a critical look. "Wait, how the hell did you manage that? You'd have had to get passed the Hokage himself."

"Honestly, that was the easy part. I just used my Oiroke no Jutsu and Jiji was out light." Naruto said with a shrug, earning a deadpan from Ino.

"…Seriously? That stupid technique actually worked on him?" Ino asked dully, her deadpan expression deepening when Naruto nodded without hesitation.

"Uhhh, what exactly does this Orco juitsy thing do?" Star asked with a confused tilt of her head.

Instead of answering verbally, Naruto brought his hands up in a Ram sign before being engulfed in a plume of smoke. Once it cleared, Star's cheeks literally glowed pink from surprised embarrassment when she found herself hugging a buck-naked, pigtailed, and well-endowed female Naruto.

"Tada~, behold my personal anti-pervert technique." The transformed blonde said in a sultry feminine voice while doing a few sexy poses before throwing Ino a dirty look. "And if it's so stupid Ino, why do people keep falling for it?"

Ino opened her mouth to retort, only to for no words to come out when she failed to think of a valid argument. As much as she hated to admit it he was right, the Oiroke no Jutsu did have a high success rate whenever she'd seen him use it in class. So she settled for sticking her nose into the air with an indignant huff.

Meanwhile, Star had recovered from her surprise as her cheek marks turned into sparkles. "You can turn into a girl!? That is so cool!" She exclaimed with a wide smile, unconsciously floating into the air as her wings fluttered with excitement while she let go of Naruto and looked 'her' over.

"Don't get too excited Star, it's just a basic henge." Ino said with a good-natured roll of her eyes before reaching out towards her fellow blonde's 'bust' with her pointer finger. "Watch, just one little poke and-" "EEP!"

Ino stopped midsentence when instead of the transformation dispelling like she expected, her finger squished into the fleshy lobe while Naruto squeaked and instinctually covered 'her' chest.

…

"Okay so maybe you're better at it than I thought." Ino said with a light blush as she retracted her hand. "So… you stole something from the vault?"

Thankful for the change of subject, Naruto nodded quickly while allowing the jutsu to dispel in another puff of smoke. "Yeah, uh, a really big scroll called the Fuin no Sho, which is where I learned the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

"Ah, so it was a different Bunshin then the one taught at the academy." Ino said, having not been entirely sure until now. "Any chance you'd be willing to teach me how to use it?"

"Sorry Ino, but Jiji made me promise not to, said it was too dangerous because of extreme chakra eating or some technical jargon like that, I kinda zoned out halfway through his explanation." Naruto admitted while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"I'm pretty sure you mean intense chakra consumption, and come on it can't be that bad, you've been using it pretty willy-nilly." Ino pointed out with a frown.

"Even so, I promised that I wouldn't, so I won't. if you really want to learn it, then take it up with Jiji." Naruto stated firmly, making Ino nod in understanding. "Anyway, I used that jutsu to kick Mizuki's ass in a thousand ways at once after Iruka found me and revealed that the whole thing was a scam."

"Afterwards, Iruka was so impressed with how well I did that he considered it good enough for me to pass for real." As he spoke, a soft smile crossed Naruto's lips while he reached up and rubbed the side of his headband. "He even gave me his own Hitai-ate as graduation gift."

"Awwwww, that's so sweet." Star gushed as she fluttered back into her seat and started eating her sherbet again.

"And pretty ironic when you think about it," Ino said as she smirked. "Mizuki gives you a fake test and it ends up turning into a real one that you passed."

"Huh, when you put it like that, it is actually pretty funny." Naruto said with a chuckle while Star giggled. "But that's basically how it went. I got duped, learned an awesome jutsu, kicked ass, and became a real ninja. All in a night's work you could say."

With his story finished, the trio settled down in their spots and continued to enjoy their movie and ice-cream, or at least that was how it appeared. While Star and Naruto were actually watching the video playing, Ino was merely staring at the screen without actually seeing as she tried to solve the newly discovered mystery that was her fellow blonde.

' _Damnit, I got nothing still.'_ Ino mentally groaned as she failed to figure out what Naruto had been muttering to himself about. Nothing she knew about the whiskered boy could explain his reaction, or what could possibly have spooked him so badly. ' _Looks like I'll need to dig up some more dirt if I want to figure this out.'_

She'd let this matter drop for now, but rest assured, she would figure out what he was hiding one way or another, her pride as a gossiper demanded it.

Speaking of resting, as Ino finally snapped out of her thoughts and returned her focus to the real world, the platinum blonde blinked in surprise when she found Star and Naruto passed out on the recliner turned loveseat. The transformed princess's head sat on the whiskered blonde's shoulder, four of her arms wrapped haphazardly around his body while the remaining two clung to her wand and now empty bowl.

' _Oh kami, that is adorable!'_ Ino thought with a quiet squeal before pulling out a camera from… somewhere as she stood up and quickly took several pictures. ' _Hello future teasing material.'_

After collecting a sufficient amount of evidence to the scene and finally noticing how late it had gotten, she quickly put the camera away and shook the pair's shoulders to wake them. However, Naruto's head just rolled to the side as drool oozed from the side of his mouth while Star simply grumbled quietly and swatted at Ino with her bowl wielding hand.

Dodging the blind swings with ease, Ino frowned slightly before nudging the purple princess once more. "Star, it's time for bed."

"Mehhhhh, go a'ay." Star mumbled while swinging her arm again, accidentally hurling the bowl across the room when it slipped from her fingers and narrowly missed Ino's head.

Eyebrow twitching now, Ino was so close to just calling it quits and leaving the duo as they were, but after taking a deep breath to calm down decided to give it one more try. Reaching down, she grabbed two of Star's arms and pried them off Naruto. "Come on Star, up and at-*Fwoosh*-Gah!"

Ino yelped in surprise as she suddenly found herself blasted up to the ceiling by blobs of purple silk that shot from Star's palms. Stunned from the unexpected flight and impact, the gossiper was unable to react as the transformed princess shot several more streams of the sticky substance at her, cocooning the blonde from top to bottom until only her eyes and nose were left visible.

"MPH! MMMPH! MMPH! MPH!" Ino's muffled yells rang out as she struggled against her bindings. However, the silky material proved too elastic for her to break through and cutting it was not an option since she'd left her kunai pouch at home.

After several more minutes of futile attempts to break free, the trapped blonde eventually admitted defeat, sweat pouring from her brow. Staring at Star with a deadpan expression, Ino tried to get the half-awake girl's attention, only to end up rolling her eyes when she snuggled back up with Naruto with a quiet snore.

' _Kuso… looks like I'm stuck like this for a while. I should have stopped when she threw the bowl at me.'_ Ino thought with a muffled groan. ' _Oh well, might as well catch a few Z's while I wait for those two to wake up and get me out.'_

With her action, or in this case inaction, decided, Ino squirmed around in her cocoon, getting as comfortable as she could in her silken prison before closing her eyes as she allowed herself to doze off…

…just missing as Star started to shake and whimper in her sleep.

-?-

 _"What the… how did I get here?" Star muttered in surprise as she found herself standing in the middle of Konoha all alone. Understandably puzzled and no small bit nervous, the purple princess hugged herself as she walked down the empty street._

" _Naruto? Ino? Hello?" She called out, cupping her top hands around her mouth to make herself louder. "Helloooooo? Where are you guys?"_

 _"Look at that freak walking around here like it's one of us."_

 _Star stopped mid-step as these words reached her ears, before jerking her head towards the direction it came from…_

 _…Only to find no one there._

 _Confused, the multi-armed girl looked around for any sign of the person who'd been speaking, but not a soul was to be seen._

 _"It's so disgusting, we should just get rid of it already." A different voice said from behind Star, making her spin around while drawing her wand._

 _"Who's there!?" She demanded, pointing her now glowing wand around threateningly, yet was once again greeted with nothing but emptiness._

 _"Ugh, why is that monster still here? I thought someone would have killed it already."_

 _"Stop calling me that! I'm not a monster!" Star yelled angrily as her eyes started to water._

 _…_

"… _yes you are." Someone whispered right into the princess's ear, causing her to freeze in shock as their hot breath tickled her neck and their hooded face peeked over her shoulder. "You're nothing but a horrible, disgusting, worthless monster."_

" _GAH! GET AWAY!" Star screamed, reflexively jabbing her elbow into the mystery person in the gut, making them gasp for air while she jumped away from them and turning around with her wand raised. "Dagger Crystal Heart Attack!"_

 _With her cry, hundreds of razor sharp crystal hearts launched from her wand, stabbing into the cloaked several times over then webbing them just to be safe._

 _Steadying herself, the multi-armed girl kept the magical tool at the ready as she glared at the unknown figure, who casually stood up and casually snapped the webs before dusting off the daggers like they were bits of dirt. "Who are you?! Why do you keep calling me a monster!?"_

" _Because Star…" The figure started before reaching up and undoing the clasp holding their hood on, causing Star to gasp in shock as it fell to the ground and she found herself facing… herself? Standing before the princess was another Star Butterfly, but this one had several distinct differences._

 _This 'Star' had greyish velvet skin that gave it a decaying look, her hair was a bright ice blue, the fingernails on all six hands were sharpened into razor sharp claws, her wings were obsidian black with several tears and holes in them, her wand was primarily reddish colored with ragged wings, and her cheek marks and heart shaped pupils were pitch black and inverted horizontally._

 _Finally, her mouth was revealed to be filled with razor sharp fangs as the doppelganger gave a toothy smirk. "…We are a monster."_

-Naruto's apartment-

Star's eye's snapped open as she shot up, her arms flailing around wildly shooting off multiple salvos of webbing all over.

Within seconds almost the entire apartment was covered in the silky substance, with what was left exposed soon to follow if it wasn't for the pair of arms that suddenly wrapped around her torso.

"Whoa! Easy there Star-chan! Calm down!" Naruto exclaimed while pulling the girl onto his lap and held her tightly as she continued to thrash around. After several moments though his words finally managed to worm themselves into Star's ears and through her brain, causing the transformed princess to snap out of her panic induced state.

"There we go, easy… easy…" Naruto said, loosening his grip when the girl stopped squirming and slowly relaxed. Once she was completely settled down, the princess turned around and hugged him tightly that he returned. "Nightmare?"

"Uh-huh," Star mumbled with a nod, her whole body starting to tremble and her breathing grew ragged as her adrenaline rush wore off. "It was… it was…"

"Shhh, it was just a dream, whatever happened wasn't real." Naruto said reassuringly while gently rubbing Star's back. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

Nodding, the princess remained silent as she snuggled into Naruto's side for several more minutes before finally letting the whiskered blonde go. "Thanks Naruto."

"Anytime, now come on, up and at em" Naruto said while looking around his webbed-up apartment. "We got some cleaning do to."

"Heh, yeah… sorry about that." Star said with a small sheepish smile, before blinking when she finally noticed something. "Hey, where's my wand and Ino?"

"Well your wand's over there," Naruto said while pointing to the table where said magical item was webbed down. "And Ino probably went home after we fell asleep."

"Mmmph, mph mmmm!"

"…Or she could be glued to the ceiling." Naruto said, sweatdropping as he looked upwards to see Ino staring down at him from her cocoon. "Ino, why are you glued to the ceiling?"

Giving Naruto her best 'Really?' look, Ino rolled her eyes while mumbling indistinctly through her bindings.

"Right, sorry, I'll get you down in a second," Naruto said, grabbing a kunai from his pouch and forming a pair of clones, one that boosted him up while the other stood directly underneath Ino with Star. Aiming carefully, the whiskered blonde sank his dagger into the silk and sliced it off the ceiling. "Just a little bit further and… there!"

"MMPH!" Ino shrieked as her cocoon fell towards the arms of Star and the other clone, who then carefully set her down on the loveseat. Once this was done, Naruto dropped down from his clone's shoulders and dispersed his two copies as he knelt beside his fellow blonde.

"Alright, now for the tricky part." Naruto muttered while gently patting the side of the cocoon, earning an offended huff from Ino as she gave him a dirty look. "What? I'm making sure none of you is in the way before I start. Would you rather I slice off a piece you instead?"

Grumbling quietly, the girl nodded in understanding and stopped glaring, though she still kept a firm look that screamed 'don't try anything… or else'.

Lining his kunai up very carefully, Naruto gently stabbed it into the webbing at Ino's shoulder and slowly dragged it downwards. Once he got down to her waist, the platinum blonde's hands burst out before grabbing the newly made tear and pulling it open while the whiskered boy continued to cut.

"PAH! Freedom at last!" Ino exclaimed dramatically as her head popped free of the cocoon.

"Okay… now could you explain why you were glued to the ceiling?" Naruto asked while he and Star pulled the girl the rest of the way free.

"Star stuck me up there accidentally when I tried to get you two sleepy heads to bed." Ino said grumpily, making the transformed princess smile sheepishly.

"Sorry," Star muttered with her head bowed.

"Don't worry about it, like I said it was an accident." Ino said with a wave of her hand as she stretched her stiff muscles and joints before picking up a chunk of the silky material she'd been trapped inside. "Besides, I have to admit, other than being a bit stuffy it was surprisingly comfortable in there. In fact, I was wondering if I could keep some of this stuff"

"Uh, sure, no problem, I have plenty to go around." Star said, making a ball of the webbing with her topmost hands to emphasis her point. "Well, at least until I turn back to normal."

"Speaking of which, how long do you think until that happens?" Ino asked curiously.

"Honestly, I don't know." Star said with a shrug. "The last time I was like this was when I went through Mewberty and that only lasted a few hours."

"Well don't worry, I'm sure you'll be back to your normal self in no time." Naruto said with a smile before he made several clones that got to work peeling the webbing that covered every surface. "Now can we get cleaning already? The landlord is going to have an aneurysm if he sees this mess."

"Alright, alright, but only because I have a bunch of ideas of what to do with this silk afterwards." Ino said before turning back to Star with a curious look as they cleaned up the remains of her cocoon. "So what happened when you went through this Mewberty?"

"Uh, it's kinda embarrassing to talk about." Star muttered as her cheek marks glowed pink.

"Come on, I won't tell anyone, promise." Ino begged with a cute pout.

"Oh alright, well it all started when…"

-End Chapter-

AN: Was that nightmare really just a nightmare… or was it a hint for the future? Keep reading to find out. Thank you for reading and please review.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Svtfoe franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

Curiosity Broke the Scissors

-Chapter 7-

-Last Time-

 _"Uh, it's kinda embarrassing to talk about." Star muttered as her cheek marks glowed pink._

 _"Come on, I won't tell anyone, promise." Ino begged with a cute pout._

 _"Oh alright, well it all started when…"_

-And Now-

"…then I turned back to normal and celebrated getting my Mewberty wings with Marco." Star finished her story with a nostalgic smile. She and Ino were currently in the latter's room, with the princess sitting on the bed rolling up all the loose silk they'd collected from Naruto and Star's apartment into balls using two hands.

Several of these bundles of lavender webbing were currently soaking in bowls of warm water, while the other four of Star's hands started spinning into spools of fine thread that Ino then fed into a miniature loom, making a long continuous stretch of soft fabric.

"Man, must've been one heck of an experience," Ino said while stopping to look over her work so far for any mistakes or problems. "It's almost like you just crammed the entire process of puberty into a few hours."

"That's exactly what Marco said." Star said with a giggle that Ino shared.

"I gotta admit, this Mewberty of yours sounds a whole lot better to deal with, minus the whole kidnapping every boy you see and sticking them in a cocoon."

"Really? What's puberty like? I asked Marco once but he just got all red and stuttered a lot before taking a nap." Star said, causing Ino to burst out in giggles.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," The platinum blonde stated once she got herself under control. "Honestly, puberty is a bit of a rough time, from the random emotional outbursts thanks to the hormones, the constant worry of acne outbreaks, and annoying growing pains. Not to mention having to deal with all the new hair growth and sexual urges."

"Oh, that doesn't sound fun at all." Star said as her brain conjured up over dramatic images. "And how long does last? A few days? A week?"

"Pffft! I wish!" Ino exclaimed, once again bursting into a laughing fit that took several moments to calm down, wiping a tear from her eye when she did. "Puberty goes on for years Star."

As soon as these words reached Star's ears, she froze in what she was doing as she stared at Ino with bugged out eyes and a slack jaw. "Years? Seriously?"

"I told you it sucked. In fact, I'm already going through it as we speak and Naruto should be starting any time now." Ino said, her shoulders shaking from barely repressed laughter as she took in her new friend's reaction, before all the humor unexpectedly drained from her face as she looked towards her door in confusion. "Hey, speaking of Naruto, is it just me or has he been in the bathroom for a really long time now?"

Blinking in surprise at the sudden change of topic, Star followed her gaze with a curious and slightly worried look of her own. "Well now that you mention it… Should we go see if he's okay?"

"I'm sure his fine… but I'll go check on him just to be on the safe side." Ino said with a mischievous smirk as she grabbed a camera that was sitting on a nearby table. ' _Hello new teasing/blackmail material~.'_

Unaware of Ino's new… side quest, Star simply nodded in understanding before focusing back on her work as her fellow blonde left the room in search of the missing whiskered boy.

However, said search ended barely a minute after it started as Ino found Naruto in the store section of her home. This time it was Ino who was left stunned as she watched the normally hyperactive blonde watering and trimming the various plants in the store with a relaxed smile on his face.

After a few seconds of just staring at the, in her opinion, impossible sight before her, Ino finally snapped out of her surprise and quickly took a few pictures. ' _Not what I was expecting but definitely worth getting a picture of.'_

While Naruto wasn't exactly popular, he was no small amount infamous for his constant energetic attitude. So much so in fact that there was actually a betting pool in the gossip community that had been going on for a few years now on if anyone could ever get proof of him acting calmly about something that wasn't eating ramen.

…Plus she also happened to know a certain blue-haired heiress that would pay a small fortune for such a picture as well.

-Hyuga Complex-

Inside a moderately sized bedroom, one Hinata Hyuga could be seen sitting with a large body pillow that had an old picture of Naruto taped to it.

"H-hello N-naruto-kun, I was w-wondering if you w-would be… Oh I can't do it!" She cried out with a bright blush before she buried her face into said pillow.

Meanwhile, leaning against a nearby wall Kurenai rubbed her forehead with a sigh as she walked over and rubbed her student's back. ' _Well at least she managed to get halfway through asking this time before breaking.'_

She'd trying to get the girl to break out of her shell for a while now, and the best place to start would be to build up her confidence towards her crush, but as you can see progress was slow going.

-Back at Yamanka Complex/Store-

' _Cha-ching.'_ Ino thought with a grin before loudly clearing her throat, causing Naruto to jump in surprise at the sudden noise.

"Huh? Oh, hey Ino." Naruto said once he saw who made the sound. "Jeez, you scared the kuso out of me."

"I noticed," The gossiper said with a smirk before pointing to the watering can and trimming shears in his hands. "You know, that is certainly an odd way to go to the bathroom."

"Uh… what?" Naruto asked with a raised brow, her joke flying right over his head.

' _Kami, I forgot he is such an idiot.'_ Ino thought with a facepalm. "You said you were going to the bathroom almost an hour ago, Star and I were wondering what was taking you so long."

"Ooooh, right," Naruto said before smiling sheepishly, "Sorry, I was on my way back when I noticed that some of your plants looked really dry and wilted."

' _Kuso, with all the craziness these last few days I forgot to water everything. I never thought I'd think this but thank Kami for Naruto, my parents would've been pissed if they'd seen this.'_ Ino thought with a wince as she looked at the bucket by Naruto's feet overflowing with decaying vegetation. "Ah, thanks then, but when did you know how to care for plants so well?"

Most people just dumped water on plants without a second thought while cutting willy nilly, but Naruto's work was proper, exact, and tidy, giving just the right amount of water and only removing what was needed to keep the plants healthy.

"Gardening has always been a bit of a hobby of mine, and your mom was nice enough to give me a few tips here and there whenever I came by for fertilizer or new plants." Naruto said with a shrug, getting Ino to blink in surprise.

"…You've talked with my mother?"

"Uh-huh, she's a really nice lady, even lets me take the out of date stock for free." Naruto said with a grin.

"That's sounds like mom alright." Ino muttered with a nod before suddenly grabbing Naruto's arm and pulling him towards her room. "Now enough gabbing, let's get back to Star before she gets bored again and tries to entertain herself with her magic again. Having to explain to my parents why the kitchen table tap dances is gonna be a big enough headache as it is."

"Alright. Alright. You don't have to drag me." Naruto said irritably as he tried to pry himself out of her grasp.

"Nope, I'm not risking you getting 'distracted' again and leaving me to-Whoa!" Ino started to say sarcastically before yelping in surprise when she slipped in a puddle of water that had formed from a leaky planter. Normally she'd be able to catch herself pretty easily from such a slip, but thanks to the added ballast that was Naruto's struggling, the lavender dressed blonde ended up falling right onto him and sending both straight to the ground.

*Jingle* "Hey Ino! You in here!" Sakura called out as she walked into Yamanaka's Flowers, an ice pack taped to the left side of her face, gauze in the spaces where her teeth were missing, and a box of chocolates with the words 'Get Well Soon' atop it in her arms. "I heard you were sick recently so I brought you a giiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii…"

The pinkette continued to drag out that one syllable as she stared at the sight before her with a bugged-out eye.

Ino was laying on top of Naruto one of her hands intertwined with his while the other had slipped underneath his jacket whilst his free hand was grasping a handful of developing breast. The icing to the cake, the pair of blondes were staring straight into each-other's eyes in shock as their lips were firmly locked together.

Total silence filled the shop, minus Sakura's still ongoing drawl, as the trio stayed completely motionless while their brains tried to process the situation.

Taking a quick peek inside Sakura's mind, we see the infamous Inner Sakura seizing on the ground and frothing at the mouth as the words 'Does Not Compute' flashed all over the place in bold red letters.

Meanwhile, at Ino Central Command, several alarms could be seen blaring as multiple chibi Inos ran around in utter chaos, screaming things like 'My first kiss was stolen!' and 'I've betrayed Sasuke-kun!'.

Finally, within Naruto's head… huh, how odd, there's nothing here. Hello? Anybody home? Hmmm, would you excuse me for a moment. *Que various random shuffling, banging, and crashing noises that oddly end with a cat screeching indignantly* Aha! Found something! …Ah dammit it's just an old funeral music record, what the hell is that doing in here.

Anyway, back in the real world smoke started to rise from Sakura's ears as she stared at Naruto and Ino for a solid minute before falling to the ground with a solid *thump*. This in turn snapped Ino and Naruto from their dazes, evident by their faces swiftly turning the brightest red in existence before the former broke the lip lock and scooched away like she'd been burned.

"…my first kiss… Naruto… first kiss… Naruto… kiss… Naruto…" Ino muttered with a somewhat glazed look in her eyes as she brought her hands up to her mouth. However, with each repetition her eyes gained a bit more life in them, and with that life an unholy level of righteous feminine fury. "Kiss. Naruto. Kiss. Naruto. Kiss. NARUTO!"

Jumping at the roar of anger that his fellow blonde unleashed, Naruto's self-preservation instincts took over and he scrambled away just in time to avoid the fist that buried itself into the floor where his head had been just seconds ago.

Seeing the burning rage clearly burning in Ino's eyes, the whiskered boy forgot all about the accidental kiss as sweat poured from his brow. ' _Oh Kuso! Oh Kuso! Oh Kuso! I'm gonna die!'_ He thought as Ino pulled her fist free and started to slowly march towards him while cracking her knuckles.

"NARU-*Pht* Mph?!" Thankfully for Naruto, before Ino could properly rearrange his face, the enraged blonde suddenly found herself once again bound by purple silk.

The source of the webbing, Star obviously, walked into the room with a confused and slightly upset look on her face. "What the heck is going on in here?" She asked Naruto after shooting Ino and Sakura dirty looks.

"Uh, just a little… misunderstanding," Naruto said nervously, his eyes flickering from Star's curious gaze to Ino's still livid one that said ' _tell her what happened and I'll use your corpse as fertilizer'_. "It was my fault, I accidentally errr called Ino's butt big?"

' _Ugh really? That was the best he could come up with? There is no way she's gonna believe that.'_ Ino thought with a dull look, her anger briefly vanishing at the pure stupidity that was Naruto's excu-

"Oh, well wasn't that just silly of you," Star said with a giggle as her anger vanished just like that. "Don't you know that you should never tell a girl she looks fat in any way?"

' _Right… forgot… girl Naruto.'_ Ino thought while mentally facepalming.

"I do now." Naruto muttered quietly, cringing a little as Star cut Ino free of her bindings, especially now that her once angry expression was now replaced with a devious smirk. "Hey Star, I think we have enough silk ready for sowing, but we still need a model, don't we?"

' _Noooo, don't tell me she's suggesting what I think she's suggesting.'_ Naruto thought, slowly skidding back as Star nodded without a second thought.

"Yep, I can just whip one up really quick though." Star said while pulling out her wand, only for Ino to push the arm holding it down.

"No offense Star but I'd rather you not do anymore magic while in my house, at least until I can introduce you to my parents," Ino said, getting the transformed princess to nod her head in understanding before the gossip queen's cruel smirk returning as she grabbed Naruto's collar just as he started to run away. "Besides, we have the perfect model right here."

"Uhh, but aren't we making a dress?" Star asked with a tilted head.

"Yeah Ino, a dress, a girl's dress." Naruto repeated while putting extra emphasis on 'girl'.

"Don't even start Naruto, we both know that that isn't an issue for you," Ino said bluntly, making Naruto slump in defeat when he figured out what she was referring to. "Now shut up, stand up, and change up."

"Hello~ princess still really confused over here~." Star said in a slightly annoyed sing-song tone.

"Trust me Star, it'll make sense in three… two… *poof* now." Ino said with a Cheshire grin as Naruto did a single hand-sign and was engulfed in a cloud smoke. Once it cleared, Star's jaw hit the floor as she found herself looking at a bodacious female version of Naruto with 'her' hair done up in pigtails, a decent sized rack, curves that made Ino a bit jealous, and an adorable glare on 'her' face.

"Happy now?" 'She' asked with an irritated huff.

"Definitely."

-End Chapter-

AN: Filler chapter, hope you all still enjoyed, thanks for reading and please review


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or SvtFoE franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it is not just straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

PS: For the sake of convenience, while Naruto is using Oroike no Jutsu, he will be referred to as she and Naruko.

Thank you and please enjoy

Curiosity Broke the Scissors

-Chapter 8-

-Last Time-

 _"Trust me Star, it'll make sense in three… two… *poof* now." Ino said with a Cheshire grin as Naruto did a single hand-sign and was engulfed in a cloud smoke. Once it cleared, Star's jaw hit the floor as she found herself looking at a bodacious female version of Naruto with 'her' hair done up in pigtails, a decent sized rack, curves that made Ino a bit jealous, and an adorable glare on 'her' face._

 _"Happy now?" 'She' asked with an irritated huff._

 _"Definitely."_

-And Now, Ino's Bedroom-

"I hate you so much right now Ino." Naruko grumbled, still in her Oroike no Jutsu form, standing on a wide but short stool as Ino and Star walked around him, the former taking her measurements while the latter was poking and prodding every inch of her.

"Come on, it's not that bad… Naruko~." Ino said teasingly, jotting down the last few measurements she needed on a small scrap of paper and walking over to her bed where several large bundles of Star's woven silk lay neatly stacked.

Said fabric was quite intriguing as it held an interesting balanced between the colors soft pink, light lavender, and mauve that gently glistened under the rays of light filtering through the nearby window.

"Says the one not currently being forced to be the opposite gender then they've been all their life," Naruko snarked before looking down at Star irritably as she prodded her chest. "And you stop poking me already, it's really getting annoying."

"But this is so cool! You're actually a girl!" The transformed princess yelled excitedly as she got right in Naruko's face. "Is it hard to do? How long can you stay like this? Could you show me how to do it?!"

"It's not too hard to do really, just needs some practice. And you might be able to, I mean you have done some pretty cool stuff with that wand of yours so I can't say it's impossible." Naruko answered, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "As for how long I can stay like this, I haven't a clue. This is honestly the longest I've ever used the Oroike no Jutsu at one time."

"Speaking of which, maybe you should take a break really quick. You're probably running a bit low on chakra by now." Ino suggested.

"Uh not really, I'm fine actually." Naruko said with a shrug, earning a disbelieving look from the platinum blonde.

"Really? You expect me to believe you aren't tired from maintaining a solid transformation jutsu, one of the most chakra intensive technique the academy teaches, for twenty minutes straight?" She asked dully before standing up with a roll of her eyes when Naruko nodded. "Then I guess you won't mind if I check your chakra pool for myself."

"Sure, go aheeee… Wait, you can do that?" Naruko asked with wide eyes as Ino walked towards her.

"Yep, to help us learn our mind possession jutsu, my clan developed a simple but useful technique that lets us link to another's chakra core so as to give us a way to grasp the feeling of being connected to someone else's mind and body." Ino explained while doing a short series of handsigns, making her right hand glow a soft blue. "As an added bonus though, it also allows us to gauge how much chakra someone else has."

"Okay… but only as long as you don't go digging around inside my head while you're at it." Naruko said with a frown, one part being she simply didn't want someone in her head but mostly her worry was for a certain massive beast of destruction currently located in her gut.

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry. I'd never do that to a friend without permission… unless they pissed me off." Ino said, adding the last bit as an afterthought as she placed her hand against her fellow blonde's chest. "Now just hold still and let… me… whoa…"

Ino trailed off midsentence as her hand glowed even brighter, her expression changing to one of awe and her pupils shrinking to practically nothing. It was only after several seconds of silence that the glow died away and she slowly pulled her arm back.

"Uh, you okay Ino?" Naruko asked as Ino stumbled back a few steps before catching her balance, her breathing coming out a bit heavily as sweat dripped down her forehead.

"Yeah… just… a bit winded," She muttered after a moment, shaking her head a few times to clear the disorientation she felt. "But by Kami… how the hell do… you have that much chakra? I thought I was… gonna suffocate from it all."

"…Lots of ramen?" Naruko offered with a shrug.

' _Note to self, test if ramen makes one get larger pools of chakra.'_ Ino thought seriously, even as she gave Naruko a solid deadpan. "Suuuure, well, seeing as you're good to go still… let's get started on this dress already. Star, get ready with those pins."

"Okay!" Star said while holding up the tiny but sharp needles, making Naruko sweat nervously.

"I have a very bad feeling about this." The gender swapped teen muttered as her fellow blondes approached.

-Hokage's Tower-

Hiruzen held a deep frown as he flipped through a report on his desk, a tired look in his eyes as they took in the information written up the pages. Standing before him was Ibiki and Anko, the former with his usual neutral gaze while the latter messed around with a dango stick in frustration.

After several long minutes of intense silence, the elderly Hokage sighed and let the file fall, revealing a detailed report along with the image of a dead Caucasian man wearing the attire and headband for Kumogakure. "So, all signs indicate this was an infiltration attempt by Kumo?"

"Yes sir. We found mostly ruined scrolls with information on our border patrol patterns, defensive capabilities, current shinobi roster, and Butterfly-san along with several traces of recently developed chemical weapons such as the Tsukiakari sedative." Ibiki said calmly, "Cause of death was by a self-inflicted cut to the neck. At first glance, it would seem to be a case of a spy who got his cover blown and decided to take himself out before he could be captured."

"…But?"

"But it's clearly all a sham!" Anko growled, the stick in her hand snapping to pieces as she clenched it into a fist. "We've been dealing with Kumo spies for years and none of them ever did something as colossally stupid as this!"

"Anko's right, if this had truly been Kumo's doing then this man would have either hidden the intel and materials somewhere another spy could retrieve later before going on a suicide run trying to do as much damage as possible or he'd have tried to make it as far as he could in an attempt to flee." Ibiki said, before pointing at the image. "And even if this one decided to just off himself, there is no way he'd do it in a way that would leave him identifiable as a Kumo in, that would leave the Raikage with way too many problems to deal with."

"Not to mention he did an absolutely shit job of getting rid of the 'evidence'. Even a batch of newly minted genin could have figured out what that bastard was supposedly up to." Anko said with a scowl.

"For now we've put it down that we believe that another hidden village was responsible and tried to set up Kumo to cover their tracks," Ibiki said, his voice still calm but if you looked very closely you could just see his hand shaking slightly from the suppressed anger he felt. "But, it is much more likely that your fears are true Hokage-sama and we have a traitor within Konoha."

Upon hearing these words, Hiruzen seemed to age ten years as he rested his head in his hand, an air of anger and sorrow surrounding him, angry that someone from his own village was causing it harm and saddened that they would likely cause much more trouble by the time he'd be able to drag them out into the light.

"Ibiki, have the investigation officially ended for now but have our technicians and seal teams thoroughly examine the village defenses for any tampering or damage, make sure to be convincing." Hiruzen said, making the scarred man nod before vanishing in a swirl of leaves. "As for you Anko, I need you to maintain discreet surveillance of our… guest, whoever this traitor is may try something again however unlikely it may be."

"… so basically, you're sticking me on babysitting duty?" Anko asked rhetorically with a dull expression.

"Pretty much," The elderly man said with a shrug. "But look on the bright side."

"And what would that be sir?"

"YEEEEEEEEEOUCH!"

Anko jerked her head towards the window when a loud high-pitched scream filled the air.

"At least it won't be too boring."

-Back with Naruto, Star, and Ino-

"Ow! Ow! Ow! OOOOW!" Naruto yelped in pain, back to normal as he hopped around the room in a half-finished dress holding his ass. "Ow!" Dammit Star-chan! Ow! I told you to be careful with those!"

"Sorry Naruto! It was an accident, honest." Star said sheepishly as she held up a bent needle, a tiny bit of blood staining the end of it.

Ino said nothing at all, she was too busy trying to breath as she rolled on the floor laughing like a mad woman.

Jumping around a few more times, Naruto finally managed to stop himself as the surprise of getting stabbed in the rear wore off. He then proceeded pull the incomplete dress off and toss it onto the bed with an annoyed huff before hobbling towards the door.

"Come on Star-chan, I've had enough with this crap for one day and I wanna get some fresh ramen before Ichirakus closes."

"Oooh, wait for me!" The transformed princess exclaimed eagerly while dashing after the whiskered blonde. "Besides, I really wanna try something!"

Left all by herself, Ino eventually got her laughter under control as she pushed herself up from the floor with a small frown.

"Sheesh, not even gonna invite me as well, huh?" She muttered with a faux snobby tone before giggling to herself as she looked out the window. ' _Naruto was right, it is getting a bit late, better go make myself some to eat as well.'_

With her course of action decided, the girl headed out of her bedroom as well- *Crunch* "Huh?" …only to stop a few moments later when she felt something crackle underneath her foot.

Lifting the appendage up and scooping the mysterious item up, Ino blinked in confusion when she found a small broken up purple heart resting in her palm. "Oh, it's just one of those weird heart things, must've fallen off Star earlier. But why is it so brittle?"

Looking over the small heart a bit longer, the blonde eventually shrugged and tossed it into the trash before continuing along her way. "Meh, probably just old or something. Now… let's go test that ramen theory, I 'm pretty sure there are a few cups in the back of the cupboard."

Meanwhile, Naruto and Star were quickly crossing the village towards Ichiraku's ramen, though this time they were wise enough to avoid going by street…

"This is awesome!"

…But they didn't go by rooftop either.

Naruto cheered loudly with a huge grin as he and Star flew over the village at a moderate speed, the transformed princess holding the whiskered boy tightly to her chest with her lower four arms as her wings fluttered steadily to keep them airborne, creating a soft insect-like buzz.

"I told you it would be," Star said over the wind, an equally large smile on her own face. "And the best part is this isn't even my top speed."

"Then what are we waiting for?! Show me what you can really do already!" Naruto yelled excitedly, making Star giggle before gaining a determined look.

"Alrighty then, if that's how you want it. Here we go!" Star exclaimed as her wings stopped flapping for a split-second, the translucent appendages shimmering in the dying sunlight as they tensed up, before Naruto and Star rocketed forward in a blur of motion.

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAH!" Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs, his eyes filling with tears from the wind buffeting his face. Within seconds they cleared over half the village, completely over-shooting Ichiraku's but both of them were having way too much fun to care at the moment.

…However, this also meant that they were completely unaware as small purple heart started to rapidly peel off of Star's body, revealing her natural fair skin tone and blonde hair underneath. It wasn't until Naruto felt the grip on his waist loosening that he finally snapped out of his wonder and looked down, his eyes widening upon seeing his friend's extra arms literally falling apart.

"Staaaar! I think now might be a good time to land!" He said in panicked tone, quickly grabbing onto Star's normal arms just as her extra ones completely broke up, leaving him hanging precariously several hundred feet in the air. "You're turning back to normal!"

"I noticed!" Star grunted out as she slowed down dramatically and listed forward from the sudden shift in weight. Looking around for somewhere to set down, her eyes locked onto a certain castle tower sticking out in the open a little bit away. "Hold on Naruto, I can see the apartment! I'll bring us down there!"

Following the princess's gaze, Naruto's nervousness decreased a tiny bit, but couldn't help the frown that creased his lips. "Uhh, Star, just out of curiosity, how rough a landing is this gonna be?"

"Well, I wouldn't say we were gonna land…" Star started, before trailing off with wide eyes as she felt her wings shrink back to normal size. For a brief few seconds their inertia kept them airborne, but that all to quickly wore off and the pair found themselves stuck in freefall. "More like crash!"

"AAAAAHH! Star! We could really use some magic help right now!" Naruto screamed as they quickly descended from the sky at an alarming rate.

"But I don't know any spells for that yet!" Star yelled back, pulling Naruto into a back-breaking hug in fear. "Emergency landings spells are in chapter three of the Magic Instruction Book, I only made it halfway through chapter two before coming here! Mom was right, I should have spent more time studying!"

"Kuso! Then I hope to Kami that this works instead! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" In a puff of smoke several clones appeared beneath the falling duo and quickly gathered up underneath them to act as padding. Meanwhile, the real Naruto wrapped his arms around Star and angled them so that his back was facing the ground. "Brace yourself!"

*CRASH*

With the force of a wrecking ball the two blondes smashed right through the roof of the tower, the impact and shrapnel immediately dispelling the clone pile-up. This was swiftly followed by the pair breaking through the floor of the top level and smashing into the side of the middle.

Then it all finally ending with them landing straight on top of Star's bed, completely destroying the new frame while the mattress itself thankfully soaked up enough of their remaining momentum to stop them entirely.

For a moment total silence filled the chamber, but it was soon broken by a long but quiet groan of pain.

"Uhhhhhhhhh… note to self, using your back as a crash pad hurts… a lot." Naruto grunted with a wince as he slowly raised his head and looked down at his chest, where a hyperventilating and completely normal looking Star was curled up, still clinging to him with a vice-like grip. "Hey Star-chan, you alright?"

"Uh-huh, yeah, totally fine, couldn't be better," She muttered between heavy breaths, a weak grin on her lips. "That was by far, the most scary and awesome thing I've ever experienced. I actually wanna go again."

"Totally," Naruto said back with a chuckle, before grimacing as the laughter made his back ache even more. "But next time… let's have a softer landing spot."

"Good idea, now if you'll excuse me, I think I'm gonna nap for a little bit." Star said before going entirely limp as she fainted from overexcitement.

"Yeah… same… heeere…" Naruto mumbled as his vision faded to black.

As the pair slumbered, Star rolled over, slipping from her place on Naruto's chest to snuggling against his side, with one arm tucking itself underneath her fellow blonde while the other splayed out atop his chest.

It was really a sweet and adorable scene, one that could easily be mistaken for a couple spending the night together if it wasn't for the destroyed bed (Though some might suggest that was do to some some… bedtime fun *Wink, wink*). However, if one were to look closely, they would just make out the small pink heart mark resting in the exact middle of Star's palm and along with it a tiny amount of silken thread stretching from it.

-End Chapter-

AN: Okay, normally I'd explain my reasoning and such for this chapter, but in this case that would make the AN WAAAAY to long so if you do have any question just feel free to ask them like always. Thank you for reading and please review.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or SvtFoE franchises. Commets/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

Curiosity Broke the Scissors

-Chapter 9-

-Last Time-

 _As the pair slumbered, Star rolled over, slipping from her place on Naruto's chest to snuggling against his side, with one arm tucking itself underneath her fellow blonde while the other splayed out atop his chest._

 _It was really a sweet and adorable scene, one that could easily be mistaken for a couple spending the night together if it wasn't for the destroyed bed (Though some might suggest that was do to some… bedtime fun *Wink, wink*). However, if one were to look closely, they would just make out the small pink heart mark resting in the exact middle of Star's palm and along with it a tiny amount of silken thread stretching from it._

-And Now, One Week Later-

In a moderately large clearing, Naruto and Star stood opposite of each-other in their own respective fighting stances with excited yet semi-serious expressions on their faces. Both had a light amount of bruising and a couple scratches across their bodies, while their breathing was slightly ragged.

Naruto looked like a loose brawler, his arms held up in front of him in a basic guard with a kunai held in his non-dominant hand while his legs were spread out with one foot forward to keep him maneuverable. Meanwhile Star, who was decked out in her light armor once more, held a completely solid Knight's stance that clearly favored stability and power, with her wand currently transformed into a broadsword held with both hands.

Off to the side was Kakashi, who was lazily reading Icha-Icha Tactics with one hand held up in a get ready manner, Sakura, who was bruised up and covered in dust, and Sasuke, who was a bit scuffed up but otherwise fine.

"Ready… go." Kakashi stated as he casually dropped his hand, prompting the two blondes to charge with loud battle cries.

In the blink of an eye, the pair met in the middle of the clearing, with their weapons locked in a duel for dominance.

"Nnng, so which game are we playing tonight?" Naruto asked casually, even as he struggled to push back his opponent's heavier weapon with just his dagger.

"I was thinking Kingdom's Conquest, it's a popular game back in Mewni me and my parents play it all the time," Star said before breaking the blade-lock with a powerful shove that sent the whiskered blonde stumbling back. "I'm pretty sure I have the board somewhere in our room still."

"Sounds fun, is it complicated-Whoa!" Naruto started to ask, only to cut himself off with a yelp and hop back to avoid a wide swing to his chest.

"A little bit, there are a bunch of rules you need to follow, but they're pretty easy to remember." Star said while continuing her assault, unleashing a flurry of powerful strikes and swings that Naruto either dodged or blocked.

"Great, I'll give them a look over once we're done here." The whiskered blonde said while sliding to the side to avoid a stab to the middle, causing Star to overextend slightly. She was quick to recover but that slight misstep was all her opponent needed to slip into her guard and land a punch straight in her gut.

However, while the blow knocked the wind out of her, Star was able to push through the pain and surprise Naruto by letting go of her weapon, grabbing his head, and leaning her own back.

"Hey! What are you-" *CRACK*

Sakura, Sasuke, and even Kakashi couldn't help but flinch as the princess slammed her forehead into her fellow blonde's hard enough to be heard clearly throughout the whole clearing.

"AAAAAAOOOOW! That was a bad idea! That was an absolutely terrible idea!" Star yelled, stumbling back with her hands clasped around her lightly bleeding forehead.

"Ugh, I'll say," Naruto groaned, rubbing his slightly reddened but otherwise unmarred noggin with a grimace. "I don't think that was what people mean when they say 'use your head', Ttebayo. Why would you even do that?"

"I saw it in a movie, thought it would be cooler than this." Star admitted as she finally shook off the throbbing pain in her skull. Holding her hand out towards her wand, a thin rope of light pink webbing shot from the heart mark adorning her palm and stuck to the magic relic. With a short tug, the otherworldly princess yanked it off the ground and back into her hand before poofing an icepack into existence and setting it on her head.

"Well now you know better," Kakashi cut in, putting his book away. "Headbutting an enemy is a very effective attack but is best used as a last resort, since as I'm sure you're both feeling right now, it effects the user just as much as the target."

Chuckling at the pair of groans he got in response, the masked man clapped his hands together dramatically. "Anyway, I do believe that is enough training for today. Meet back up tomorrow at the usual place at the usual time."

With his piece said, Kakashi vanished in a swirl of leaves, leaving the young teens to themselves. As per the course though, Sasuke left right after that, likely to go train by himself at the Uchiha complex while brooding over ways he'd get revenge for his clan. Sakura didn't stick around either, mumbling something about needing lots of ice-packs and aspirin as she limped away while not-so discretely glaring at Star, who quickly noticed and glared back.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I think I could go for a nice bowl of ramen to help cure this headache. How about you Star-chan?" Naruto asked, feeling a little bit awkward at the obvious tension between his crush and his roommate.

When they'd met up again for the second time, the two girls had tried to be cordially and nice, but that lasted for all of one day. Thanks to a combination of Sakura's continued harsh reactions to Naruto's dumb moments, and Star's similarity in personality to her fellow blonde, the pair had swiftly developed a grudge fueled distaste/rivalry with the other.

It was only made worse by the fact that in every spar they've had since then, the bubbly princess had easily trounced the pinkette again and again, with the first few lasting only a little bit longer than day one.

Snapping out of her anger at the whiskered boy's words, Star nodded in agreement with a sheepish smile while patting her now growling stomach. "Yeah, I could do with something to eat right now. Wanna race?"

"Sure, last one there does the chores tonight," Naruto said as he and Star got into ready positions side by side. "On your mark…"

"…get set…" Star murmured, her wings fluttering in excitement as she crouched low to the ground and tensed her legs.

"…GO!" With duel cries, both blondes shot off like rockets. Naruto immediately jumped up to the canopy and started hopping from tree to tree. Star on the other hand, while able to jump an impressive twenty feet high, was unable to make it up to the tree tops and would have fallen straight back to the ground if she hadn't shot a web from her palm that snagged onto one of the topmost branches.

"Yahoooooo!" Star cheered excitedly as she swung through the forest at high speed, snapping the cord free once she reached a full arc. Flying through the air for a brief few moments, the girl exchanged playful smiles with Naruto as he past her before launching another line.

Ever since she discovered that she'd still had her ability to use her webbing after her 'second mewberty' ended, Star had started traveling like this in order to keep up with Naruto's tree hopping, having gotten the idea from a certain spider themed hero she'd seen on TV.

Though it admittedly had quite the… rough start.

-Mini-Flashbacks (Que Funny Montage Music)-

-Attempt 1-

 _Standing near the top of a tree, Star grinned excitedly as she flexed her hands in anticipation before jumping from a tree branch and shot a line up-*Thump* "Ow."_

… _only to miss the branch she was aiming for and ended up belly flopping against the earth._

-Attempt 2-

 _Climbing back up to her original spot, the princess still had her enthusiastic smile despite the light bruising that was starting to appear on her face. Glancing back at the ground, she nodded in approval at the large stack of pillows resting in the place she'd crashed._

 _Confident that she'd have a soft landing this time in case of failure, Star once again leapt from the tree and shot out a line. This time though, her aim was true and the pink thread stuck to the branch she was aiming for and she started to swing- *Snap* *Thump* "Ow."_

 _Sadly the branch Star had aimed for was to small to hold the sudden added weight and snapped mid-swing, leaving the girl to crash land several feet in front of the pillow pile._

-Attempt 3-

 _Star somehow still had her confident smile on her face despite having a black eye as she climbed back into the tree once again. Standing up just a little bit wobbly on her perch, she glanced to the ground and saw Naruto wave to her as he held the handle to a humongous wagon filled with pillows._

 _"Ready when you are Star-chan!"_

 _As soon as she heard these words, Star leapt into the air without a second of hesitation and fired a web towards a much larger looking branch this time. Thanks to its larger size, once her weight fell onto it, the tree limb bent slightly but held strong._

 _"Yes! It worked! This is awesome!" Star exclaimed while swinging through the air at high speed. Unfortunately though, because of the excitement and adrenaline coursing through her, the otherworldy princess forgot to do one important thing._

 _"Star-chan! Watch out for that-" *Thump* "…Tree."_

 _She forgot to watch where she was going._

 _Groaning in pain, Star slowly slid down a few feet of the tree trunk she crash into before peeling off and falling into the padded wagon._

 _"…Ow."_

-Present-

A week of practice and several dozen trips to the hospital later, Star managed to get the concept down enough to use practically, though she was still prone to occasionally crashing into things like trees, buildings-

"Incoming!" *Crash* "My cabbages!" …And the occasional oddly placed cabbage cart.

"Sorry sir!" Star apologized as she zapped the destroyed cart back to normal with her wand before zipping off again, not noticing as the cabbages in said cart suddenly tripled in size and crushed the cart under the weight.

"…I don't know if I should be pissed or delighted right now." The cabbage salesmen said honestly as he picked up one of the huge vegetables.

Back with the racing duo, Star broke her line and skid to a stop in front of Ichiraku's, pouting in defeat upon seeing Naruto sitting in his usual spot with a grin. "Darn it, one of these days I'll beat you here."

"I'm sure you will, but today is not that day," Naruto quipped before patting the chair next to him. "Now come on, I already ordered for us."

Cheering up immediately, the princess eagerly sat down, only having to wait a few moments before Ayame walked up with two large bowls of ramen in hand. As they ate, the blonde duo started chatting with the brunette, discussing how their day had been and such. All in all, it was a wonderful way to end the day.

-Meanwhile, Yamanaka Residence-

"Ugh! I just can't stand that girl anymore Ino! Star-Baka's so annoying!" Sakura exclaimed as she paced back and forth in Ino's room.

"Uh-huh," Said platinum blonde mumbled out, not really listening to the pinkette as she adjusted a few stitches on a lovely purple dress set up on a wire maniquin that shimmered softly in the sunlight.

"She's always acting all sweet and innocent with everyone else, but when it comes to me she's completely rude!" Sakura continued to rant undeterred. "She keeps showing me up in front of Sasuke-kun, is way to rough whenever we spar, and always defends Naruto-Baka whenever he does something stupid!"

"Uh-huh,"

"And don't get me started on…" Sakura trailed off as she seemed to notice something and glared at Ino. "Are you even listening to what I'm saying?"

"Nope." Ino answered honestly, making a tick mark appear on her companion's forehead.

"Ino!"

Sighing in exasperation, the blonde set the needle in her hand down and turned to Sakura with a blande expression. "What Sakura? Do you want me to listen to you whining? Cause that's all you've been doing for the last thirty minutes. And to be honest, I'm pretty sure you're the one in the wrong here."

"WHAT!?" Sakura exclaimed in disbelief before glaring at Ino angrily. "How is it my fault?!"

"Well, while Star and I were hanging out together the other day, she talked about how you kept trying to and I quote 'bash Naruto's head in every five seconds'." The mind-walker in training said, getting the pinkette to scoff.

"It's not my fault he's such a baka. If he'd finally learned his lesson and stopped doing so many stupid things, then I wouldn't have to keep reminding him."

"And normally I'd agree with you on that, but then Star showed me something." Ino said with a nod of her head before picking up a large ruler.

"Oh really? And what would that- *SMACK* AAAOW!"" Sakura fell to the floor screeching in pain as Ino slapped her across the face with the wooden measuring tool.

"Baka!" Ino yelled in Sakura's face before flopping back into her seat and going back to working on her dress like nothing happened.

Getting back to her feet, Sakura glared bloody murder at Ino while rubbing her swollen cheek. "What was the hell was that for!?"

"For being a baka, don't do it again." Ino stated calmly, causing the pinkette's eye to twitch rapidly as her temper started to boil over.

"What are you talking about?" She demanded before growling in irritation when Ino completely ignored her question. "Answer me Ino!"

"I already did, now stop bothering me, these stitches are really tricky." The blonde said while carefully sewing together a seam so that it was almost invisible to the naked eye.

Gritting her teeth in frustration, Sakura grumbled several unpleasantries under her breath as she stomped towards the door, intent on leaving the infuriating situation.

*Smack* "GAH!" However, she only made it a full five steps before being knocked straight back down to floor thanks to Ino hurling her ruler at her head with enough force to snap it in half.

"Baka!"

"Owowowowowow! What the fuck Ino!" Sakura yelled as she cradled her throbbing head.

"I told you to stop being a baka." Ino said calmly while putting the finishing touches on the seam, acting like she hadn't just brained her best friend/worst rival over the head with a ruler.

"But I didn't even do anything." Sakura growled out as she slowly got up to her feet.

"Yes you did, and I want you to stop it." Ino stated, not even looking at the enraged pinkette.

"Then what did I do huh?" Sakura asked angrily, figuring that the blonde would fumble for a proper excuse.

What she didn't expect was for Ino to finally stop work and ask with a completely straight face. "Why should I tell you?"

…

"What?" Was all Sakura could say, completely thrown for a loop by the out of the blue question.

"Why should I tell you what you did wrong?" Ino asked again, her face not wavering an inch. "Why do I need to explain what I want you to stop doing? You should know what it is already, shouldn't you?"

"Uh no. How am I supposed to know if you won't tell me?" Sakura asked back with a 'are you stupid' look on her face.

"And there in lies the problem." Ino said with a nod.

Eyebrows scrunching in confusion, Sakura's anger flared up again as she couldn't figure out what the blonde was getting at. "What are you talking about?"

"Sakura, as far as I can remember the only thing we, and pretty much anyone else I know of, has ever really done to Naruto when he does something stupid was hit him and call him an idiot. Be honest, have you ever actually explained to him what he did wrong afterwards?" The blonde asked, getting Sakura to shake her head with a raised brow.

"Well… not really, but why should I? He-"

"-knows what he did wrong. Just like you knew what you did wrong to make me hit you?" Ino cut in, causing Sakura to freeze as understanding dawned on her face.

"…Oh." She murmured softly while flopping into a chair.

"Oh indeed," Ino said with a nod as she turned back to working on her dress. "Now, don't get me wrong, Naruto is and will probably always be pretty… dim and immature. But now that I think about all the fights we've had over Sasuke-kun and how we've acted towards Naruto, I keep asking myself the same thing. Were we really acting any better?"

"…Not really," Sakura admitted reluctantly, unable to deny the blonde's point.

A long silence filled the room after that statement as both girls contemplated what they'd just discussed. Eventually though, Sakura decided to change the subject a but, plus she was just a wee bit curious about something. "So did Star really pull that trick on you?"

Grimacing slightly at the question, Ino nodded while rubbing the back of her head gingerly. "Mostly, she used a mallet on me, and damn could that girl use it."

"…I still don't like her."

"Of course, it's not like one world breaking realization is gonna fix that mess up in five seconds. Besides, you two are rivals now, so what's wrong with a little competitiveness," Ino said with an understanding nod before giving Sakura a playful grin. "Just like how I'm still gonna win Sasuke-kun's heart before you can."

"Pffft! In your dreams Ino-pig!" Sakura exclaimed, a similar smile on her own face.

In just a few moments the argument escalated into a full blown fight, with the pair wrestling each-other on the floor in a mad tussle. However, instead of pulling at the others hair, biting fingers, or trying to scratch eyes out like so many scuffles in the past, these two were focused on tickling each-others armpits and giving noogies.

As peals of laughter filled the air, neither of them noticed as Ino's mother, a brunette woman with hazel eyes opened the door slightly and peered in with a soft smile. ' _Ah, it's nice to see those two hanging out like they used to.'_

-The Next Day-

"I wonder where Sakura-chan is. She's never late." Naruto said with a small amount of worry on his face as he, Star, and Sasuke waited on a small bridge for their missing teammate. It had been almost an hour since they were supposed to meet up, and despite they're sensei was always three hours late each day, Sakura was always the first person to arrive right on time.

"Maybe she caught the flu." Star suggested, also feeling a bit of worry for the pinkette despite her dislike for the girl, while Sasuke simply shrugged uncaringly.

Thankfully for the blondes though, they didn't have to worry long as Sakura came sprinting into view, sweat pouring down her brow as she skid to a stop in front of the trio. "S…Sorry I'm late… overslept." She panted out tiredly while wiping her brow, which was half-true.

She and Ino had ended up horsing around for so long that she'd ended up staying the night, and she'd ended up waking up half an hour later then she usually did. The rest of the time was spent rushing all the way home for a quick shower and change her clothes then sprinting all the way here.

"Ah, don't worry Sakura, you're actually just in time." Kakashi said as he suddenly appeared behind the group, making Star and Naruto jump in surprise.

"Gah! Don't do that Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled angrily, getting the masked man to chuckle.

"Nah, too much fun," Waving off the boy's anger, Kakashi turned around and started walking off with a 'follow me' gesture. "Now come on you four, we gotta go get a mission."

"Yaaaay… more D-ranks." Naruto and Star groaned in sync, slumping over as they followed after the man along with a still panting Sakura and emotionless Sasuke.

Looking back at them, Kakashi gave his patented eye-smile while titling his head in a 'I'm confused' way. "Who said anything about the mission being D-rank?"

-End Chapter-

AN: Once again, I am not bashing Sakura, well not character bashing her at least, lots of literal bashing from Star. Anyway, the point of the conversation between her and Ino was more to highlight a glaring issue I've always had with the show (and a few other animes but lets stay focused) which is how whenever Naruto does something stupid because he didn't know better, almost nobody ever tells him as such, opting to just bash him over the head and call him an idiot. Yes, sometimes it's obvious like him acting perverted or something, but there are just as many times where he legitimately doesn't understand what he did wrong yet no one clarifies it for him. As for Star being the one to point it out to Ino, well from what I've seen of the show so far, while Star does act like a female Naruto, she does have her rather knowledgeable moments. Thank you for reading and please review.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or SvtFoE franchises. Comment's/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy

Curiosity Broke the Scissors

-Chapter 10-

-Last Time-

 _"Nah, too much fun," Waving off the boy's anger, Kakashi turned around and started walking off with a 'follow me' gesture. "Now come on you four, we gotta go get a mission."_

 _"Yaaaay… more D-ranks." Naruto and Star groaned in sync, slumping over as they followed after the man along with a still panting Sakura and emotionless Sasuke._

 _Looking back at them, Kakashi gave his patented eye-smile while titling his head in a 'I'm confused' way. "Who said anything about the mission being D-rank?"_

-And Now-

' _Well… I guess this is better then picking up trash.'_ Star thought with a quiet sigh as she, Naruto, and the rest of Team seven walked along a plain dirt road in a protective formation around an elderly man currently helping himself to a large bottle of liquor.

The teams very first C-rank mission, something she and Naruto had been super excited about at first since it hopefully meant something exciting and fun, then all that excitement came crashing down upon finding out exactly what that mission was. Escorting this old man, who's name was Tazuna, back to his home in the Land of Wave and watching over him and his men as they built a bridge.

How… exciting…

"What's wrong girl-gaki? Sad you can't get any alone time with boy-gaki?" Oh, did I forget to mention the extra tag along?

' _Oh stump, who am I kidding? I'd take trash duty over this any day.'_ Star thought, her cheeks glowing slightly as none other than Anko popped up behind her, resting her arms and chin atop the princess's noggin with a teasing grin as she twiddled a dango stick between her teeth.

She'd showed up with the client shortly after the team had gotten their mission and had just stuck around since then. Supposedly it was due to an unusual increase in bandit activity, but Star had dealt with enough 'discreet' guard escorts being assigned to her by her parents to figure that the woman was actually there to make sure she didn't try to sneak off or something.

It wouldn't have been that bad since Anko seemed like a fun and friendly person, if it wasn't for the fact the purplette absolutely LOVED to tease people, such as frequently suggesting that she and Naruto were a couple.

' _Which is ridiculous, we've only known each-other for like two weeks now, there is now way we could be in a relationship that fast,_ ' The princess thought with a huff. ' _I mean sure Naruto is really fun to hang out with and is a really nice guy… and has great taste in food… and he's always willing to help… and has super awesome powers… and is pretty cute looking… where was I going with this again?'_

*Whoosh* *Clatter*

Before Star could regain her train of thought, she snapped back to reality upon hearing the sound of rushing wind and metal scraping against metal behind her…

…Just in time to watch in horror along with everyone else as Kakashi was wrapped up in a chain made of shuriken by two unknown men wearing grey clothes, a bladed gauntlet each, and gas masks, that seemingly formed from two puddles before he was torn to bloody pieces.

"One down…"

"…five to go." The two men said in sync before charging towards them.

Frozen in shock, Star, Naruto, Sakura, and Tazuna stood there helplessly as the attackers rapidly approached them.

Before they made it about halfway though, a shuriken flew across the remaining space and pinned the chain running between them to a tree, forcing the pair to stop. The thrower of said shuriken, Sasuke, then proceeded to toss a kunai that stuck next to the throwing star, ensuring that the chain wasn't coming free easily.

"Hm, not bad emo-gaki," Anko stated with a nod, snapping the quartet beside her out of their stunned states whilst the attacking pair ejected the chain ends from their gauntlets. "Though I would've gone for their legs at the same time, that way they'd be pinned and immobilized."

"H-how can you be so calm right now!?" Sakura exclaimed incredulously at how casual the purplette was acting. "Kakashi-sensei just got torn to shreds!"

"Oh please, if that lazy cyclops actually fell for a trap like that then he would deserve to get sliced up like sashimi," Anko scoffed with a roll of her eyes before jerking her head back towards the fight as one of the men broke off to attack them while the other continued to fight Sasuke. "Pay attention, we got incoming."

Acting the fastest, Star held up her wand, causing the charging man to stop and watch her cautiously. This turned out a wise move on his part as with a cry of "Crystal dagger blast!", hundreds of razor-sharp heart shaped blades fired straight at him.

However, just as the wave of pretty yet very deadly weapons struck, the man vanished in a swirl of water and reappeared right next to the group with his clawed gauntlet descending towards Tazuna's neck.

*Pt* *Squelch* "GAAAAH!" Thankfully for the bridgebuilder, he was saved from literally losing his head by Anko, who spit the dango stick in her mouth at the attacker so fast that it speared him right in his eye before he even knew what happened.

Screaming in pain, the man stumbled backwards until the purplette casually punched the back of his head, causing him to crumple to the ground unconscious.

"Brother!" The other man yelled in shock upon seeing this before shoving a surprised Sasuke aside in order to charge at Anko with rage clear in his eyes. "You'll pay for that you bi-gdjfh!"

Sadly for him though, he didn't even make it a whole five feet before a hand suddenly chopped him across the neck, flowed swiftly by a punch to the gut that sent the man flying back into a tree and on a express trip to Lala Land. And it was due to…

"Kakashi-sensei!/Mr. Kakashi!" Naruto, Star, and Sakura exclaimed in shock upon seeing the frequently late Jonin standing before them with his trademark eye-smile.

"Yo, did you miss me?" He asked with a lazy wave.

…

"I need to stop buying cheap alcohol." Tazuna said while tossing the liquor bottle he was holding over his shoulder.

"You… alive… sliced apart… How!?" Star demanded, her brain shorting out as she tried to figure out what just happened.

"Yeah, what she said, we saw you die!" Naruto yelled with a nod.

"Oh, did you?" Kakashi asked while looking towards where he'd 'died', prompting the others to do the same, only to blink in surprise when they found themselves staring at a pile of chopped-up wood instead of mangled corpse bits.

"The Substitution Jutsu, one of the most basic yet useful techniques that any decent shinobi should always be ready to use at a moment's notice," Anko stated as it finally clicked for the genin on what happened. Seeing they understood what happened, the purplette dusted her hands with a smirk before hefting the now one-eyed man onto her shoulder and started walking towards the other. "Now if you all will excuse me, I got some prisoners to interrogate."

"And while she's doing that, how about you start explaining why the B-ranked missing-nin known as the Demon Brothers seemed quite intent on killing you Tazuna?" Kakashi asked, his calm tone belied by the intense glare and mild KI he was directing at the now nervously sweating bridge builder, only made worse when he heard a pair of distance screams from the direction Anko went.

"Uuuuuh… well you see,"

-Several Hours Later-

"This is a terrible idea, you know that Kakashi." Anko said quietly in a dull tone as the group sailed alongside a massive incomplete bridge that the genin were currently aweing at.

"I wouldn't say terrible, somewhat risky or maybe slightly ill-advised, but not terrible." The scarecrow looking ninja said with a shrug as he calmly flipped through the little orange book in his hand.

"Oh really?" Anko muttered while fixing Kakashi with an intense glare. "You think continuing on a falsified C-Rank mission with a pack of inexperienced genin, one of which is also a fucking probational I might add, while knowing we are almost guaranteed to run into one Zabuza Momochi, one of the deadliest A-ranked missing-nin currently alive is only somewhat risky?"

After interrogating both Tazuna and the captured Demon Brothers, the group learned that while Tazuna was indeed building a bridge, it was so he could break the monopoly of a business man named Gato who was rapidly strangling the life out Wave both figuratively and in cases quite literally. And naturally, not wanting this to happen, Gato hired several missing-nin and bandits to kill off the old man before he could finish.

This in turn, led to Tazuna going to Konoha to hire a group of shinobi to protect him, but lacking the money for a high-ranking mission lied about the difficulty of the task. After discovering this little misdeed though, Anko was all for heading back to Konoha and taking the matter to the Hokage to decide what to do next. Unfortunately for her though, Kakashi had other ideas and the group continued on after a brief debate with the genin themselves and no small amount of blatant guilt tripping from Tazuna decided to keep pushing forwards.

"We've discussed this a dozen times already Anko, I'm sure the two of us will be more then capable of dealing with any issues that crop up." Kakashi said, his nose still buried in his little book. "Besides, this is a good opportunity for them to learn how to cope with unexpected factors on mission."

"Or get them all killed." Anko muttered under her breath before turning away from the man with an annoyed huff.

Nothing else was said between the pair as they continued to float across the water, idly listening as Sakura asked Tazuna about his bridge. "So Tazuna-san, how have you been able to build such a massive bridge like this? Shouldn't the weight cause it to collapse on itself?"

"Ah, glad you asked young lady," Tazuna said with a grin. "That had been a bit of an issue at first I'll admit, but nothing an expert bridge builder like myself couldn't solve. It took all my ingenuity… and one or two failed attempts, but I was able to come up with just the right setup of weight bearing pillars and reinforcement supports that equally distributes the pressure of holding this beauty up."

' _It is pretty cool, I should suggest him to Mom when I get home, she's always saying how hard it is to find decent architects.'_ Star thought with a smile while reaching out and running her hand against one of the bridge supports when they got particularly close to the incomplete bridge.

However, that smile suddenly dropped as a wave of sadness washed through the energetic princess's heart. ' _I hope they find me soon.'_ It had been nearly two weeks since Star had stranded herself in this dimension and the girl was coming down with a bad case of homesickness, something she'd never really had to deal with before. Sure she was a tiny bit homesick when she moved in with Marco's family, but not much since she could just call home on her mirror.

Not only that, but despite her seemingly never-ending optimism, the seeds of doubt were slowly starting to take root in her mind on the matter of IF she was ever found. The otherworldly princess did her best to ignore these feelings, to keep reassuring herself that any day now her family and friends would show up to her rescue.

Yet, with each passing day these worries became harder and harder to fight off and that tiny nagging voice of doubt grew louder and more prominent, continually pointing out those small facts that she really REALLY didn't want to think about. One such fact being that due to her own eagerness, Star had never actually selected a specific location when she used the scissors, which meant her actually destination had been selected at random.

So in reality, the odds of anyone just figuring out where she ended up would be a near impossible-

 _'No! Bad Star! Don't think like that!'_ Star shook her head to clear these negative thoughts from her head, before jumping slightly when she felt someone grab her arm. "Huh? Wha-"

"About time you joined us back in reality," Anko cut the girl off with slightly stern tone as she stared down at the surprised princess so intently it made the poor girl start sweating. "It's not the time to be day dreaming girl-gaki, you better keep your guard up because I won't be so nice about reminding you next time. Understood?"

"Y-yes ma'am." Star nervously squeaked.

"Good, now let's go, we've arrived." Anko said as she stepped off of the boat, making Star finally notice that they had been docked at dry land and that everyone else was waiting for her.

Scratching the back of her head sheepishly, Star quickly followed after them and soon everyone was walking once more, with the exception of the boat owner who made a rather hasty retreat back into the water upon everyone else dismounting. However, as they traversed through the muggy forests of Wave, the sun started to set, and a thick blanket of fog started to fill the area thanks to the cooler temperatures.

"Am I the only one who's feeling a bit creeped out right now?" Sakura asked quietly as she nervously stared around at the wavering coils of mist all around.

"Relax pinkie, this is normal for this time of day." Tazuna said nonchalantly as he walked, not even a little bothered by the fog.

"Normal or not, this leaves us in a prime ambush situation so keep your eyes peeled." Anko said… before happily munching on a stick of dango she somehow pulled out of her trench coat.

"Well if it's that much of a problem I could get rid of it." Star stated while playing around with a small cloud of fog, earning a few odd looks from Sakura, Sasuke, and Tazuna.

"Seriously Star, you can do that?" Sakura asked in a disbelieving tone, getting the princess to nod rapidly in response.

"Uh-huh, my mom taught me how so I could find my way if I got lost in someplace all foggy like this." Star explained before raising her wand skywards. "Watch and be amazed, Sunny Summer Breeze Blast!"

Upon calling out the spell, a soft orangish yellow bubble formed around the princess that rapidly expanded outwards, buffeting everyone with a wave of warmth that easily dispelled the thick fog.

"There, that should keep it away for about three hours," Star said while twirling her wand. "So, what do you think?"

"Quite impressive, your abilities never cease to amaze Star-san." Kakashi said with an eye-smile.

' _By Kami, what CAN'T this girl do?!'_ Sakura's inner self asked with a dumbfounded expression. Seriously, conjuring things from thin air, bringing inanimate items to life, and now casually altering the weather, this was just getting ridiculous.

"Hn, it was… alright." Sasuke said coolly, as if he didn't really care. However, if you looked closely, you could see him staring at Star in the corner of his eye with an analytical gleam. ' _Her abilities are impressive, but she clearly reliant on her wand to use them. How does it work?'_

"Yeah, that was awesome as always Star-chan." Naruto said while pulling the girl into a one-armed hug, causing the princess to smile brighter in response and return the hug.

"I hate to burst your bubble, but I think your time estimate was a bit off" Anko said pointing off to the side where a few tendrils of mist were slowly slinking back into the area.

"What!?" Star exclaimed in shock upon seeing the creeping lengths of fog curling back towards them. "B-but that's impossible, Summer Breeze always last at least three hours."

"Maybe you didn't put enough power into it," Naruto suggested just as the newly forming fog dissipated again. "Or it could have been a dela…delie…uuuh late reaction."

"Well, I guess that could be it," Star said with a thoughtful rub of her chin, before blinking in surprise when more tendrils started seeping their way into the area again. "But it wouldn't explain that."

Watching these new trails of fog fall apart just like the last, Kakashi's eye narrowed as he glanced towards the forest. "I think I can… that isn't natural fog."

"What do you mean by-" *Swoosh* "Lookout!"

Star was cut off mid-sentence as Naruto tackled her to the ground just as a massive cleaver looking sword flew over them in a vertical spin, slicing through the space she had just been occupying only a split second earlier and embedding itself into a tree several meters away.

' _…I think I wet myself a little.'_ Star thought with wide eyes as she laid on the ground, completely frozen from shock.

"Ugh… are you okay Star-chan?" The girl was snapped out of her shock induced paralysis a few seconds later though by the sound of Naruto's voice. Blinking a few times as her brain restarted, Star nodded her head with a small smile of appreciation towards the whiskered blonde staring down at her with worry and pain written on his face as he slowly got up from on top of her.

…

' _Wait, pain?'_ Star thought in confusion, before rapidly sitting up when she heard Naruto hiss in discomfort. "Naruto, what's wrong, are you alri…"

The words died in the princess's throat as she got a peek over Naruto's shoulder and saw the large gash that now ran across the boy's back. It was nearly three feet long and stretch across the left side of his spine from hip to shoulder blade, blood seeping out from it and staining the orange cloth of his jacket deep red.

"Naruto, are you alright?" Kakashi asked in concern upon seeing his student injured like that.

"Yeah, I'm fine, it's just a scratch." Naruto said with a pained grin and a thumbs-up as he stood up, pulling Star up along with him.

"Well, then I'll just have to fix that won't I?" A deep, unknown voice said, causing the group to snap towards the side in time to see a man just as he pulled the sword out of the tree it embedded into. He was a solid six feet tall, bare-chested allowing the group to see his well-defined muscles flex as he hefted his sword onto his shoulder, bandages wrapped around the lower half of his face, and a Mist headband that had a scratch across the middle of it.

"Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Mist, I was wondering when you were going to show up." Kakashi said as he and Anko got into ready stances.

"Ah, so you were expecting me," The now named Zabuza said as he twirled his weapon, flinging off the small amount of blood on the weapon. "Though it is no surprise since you dealt with my subordinates Kakashi of the Sharingan."

"Oi! What am I, chopped liver?" Anko asked rhetorically, making the enemy chuckle darkly.

"No, but your about to be."

-End Chapter-

Spells:

Sunny Summer Breeze Blast: Area of effect: Temporarily changes the current climate into that of a warm summer day that lasts about three hours.

AN: And that's chapter ten, hope you all enjoyed it. Now to explain: The reason Zabuza attacked Star first was because her spell unintendedly prevented him from using his usual stealth strategy because he couldn't create a mist to hide inside, thus he figured that by killing her would fix this. Thank you for reading and please review.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or SvtFoE franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

Curiosity Broke the Scissors

-Chapter 11-

-Last Time-

 _"Ah, so you were expecting me," The now named Zabuza said as he twirled his weapon, flinging off the small amount of blood on the weapon. "Though it is no surprise since you dealt with my subordinates Kakashi of the Sharingan."_

 _"Oi! What am I, chopped liver?" Anko asked rhetorically, making the enemy chuckle darkly._

 _"No, but your about to be."_

-And Now-

In the blink of an eye, all three Jonin vanished from sight and reappeared right in front of each-other, the familiar screech of metal grinding against metal ringing out as Zabuza tried to slash Kakashi in half that was blocked while simultaneously stopping a stab from Anko with the handle of his sword.

"A two on one with one of Konoha's best ninja, I had a feeling today was gonna be fun." The shirtless man said with a dark chuckle before easily breaking the weapon lock with a twirl of his sword, forcing both his opponents to jump back to avoid being sliced apart.

Meanwhile, back with the others, Star couldn't do anything but stare at the fight with wide eyes as her whole body shook.

' _What… what is… I don't… so scary…'_ The princess couldn't even finish her own thoughts as a feeling of bloodlust and terror more potent then she'd ever felt before suddenly flooded the area, sinking into her being like icy claws and freezing her in place with fear.

She wasn't the only one either if the not-so-slightly trembling forms of Sasuke and Sakura were any indication. Even Naruto was shaking, though that was more likely from the pain of having his back sliced open by an oversized butcher's knife then anything else.

"Ah, would you look at those cute little wannabe ninjas, they look ready to soil themselves." Zabuza commented while continuing to effortlessly keeping both Anko and Kakashi at bay thanks to his weapon's long reach.

"Oi! I thought we were fighting, not having a Sunday social," Anko said while jumping high into the air and flapping her trench coat open like a flasher would, unleashing a massive volley of senbon that rained down on the bandaged faced man. "So quit flapping those lips of yours and fight!"

Effortlessly blocking most of the needles with his sword, Zabuza chuckled darkly once again while plucking out a stray needle that hit his finger before using his suddenly water-incased hand to catch the kunai Kakashi tried to stab into his neck. "What's wrong lady, you have trouble multitasking? Let's find out."

Immediately after making this statement, the bare-chested man attempted to slice Kakashi in two, who in turn forced to bend backwards almost ninety degrees after being unable to break free of his grip when the liquid rapidly spread outwards to encase the one-eyed man's hand. However, this turned out to be exactly what Zabuza wanted as he let go of his blade mid-swing, causing the massive weapon to be sent flying straight at a still airborne Anko and freeing his hand up to deliver a powerful punch straight into his opponents exposed stomach.

"Kuso," Anko swore under her breath and got ready to use the replacement jutsu knowing she was not going to be able to dodge the incoming attack normally, before blinking in confusion when the blade somehow managed to change direction halfway and headed for… "Girl-gaki Boy-gaki! MOVE!"

Snapping out of her fear-induced paralysis for a split second, Star's head jerked towards the direction of the shout, her eyes widening in terror upon seeing Zabuza's weapon flying straight at her and Naruto at high speed.

Acting on reflex, Star tried raised her wand to cast a spell… only to remember too late that she'd dropped it when Naruto tackled her to the ground. Having wasted the precious few seconds she had, the princess could do nothing as the blade descended upon them.

' _Is this really how I die?'_ The princess asked, her eyes squeezing shut as she braced herself for the pain to come.

…

*CLANG*

Flinching as the sound of metal striking metal rang loudly in her ears, Star's eyes shot back open before widening as far as possibly upon seeing Naruto standing in front of her. His face was scrunched in effort as he held up two kunai, one near eyelevel and the other by his torso, that were heavily cracked with large divots from the cleaver currently embedded in them.

A second later the two knives shattered entirely, allowing the massive blade to fall to the ground with a heavy *thump*. Allowing his now trembling arm to drop to his sides, the whiskered blonde turned back to her with a concerned look. "Are you al-Guh!"

Unfortunately, just as he started to speak, a fist belonging to a certain shirtless shinobi decided that his gut would make a lovely summer home. Doubling over as the wind was knocked out of him, Naruto never even saw the follow-up knee that sent him tumbling across the ground and into a nearby pond.

"Naruto!?" Star screamed as she saw her friend sink into the water, vanishing under the waves without a single hint of struggle.

"You should be more worried about yourse- *Pft* -MMMPH!" This time it was Zabuza's turn to be cut off as he raised his retrieved sword to kill Star and ended up with a face full of pink webbing for his trouble. While he struggled to get the sticky threads off, Star quickly picked up her wand and pointed it at him.

"Jelly Bean Hallucination Mist!" She cried out, causing her wand to shoot out a cloud of vibrant neon blue cloud that washed over Zabuza just as he got the webbing off along with Kakashi who had been about to strike the blinded shinobi from behind with his normally covered eye exposed. Not bothering to see the aftermath of the spell, the princess scrambled back to her feet and rushed over to the pond. "Hold on Naruto, I'm coming!"

Only pausing long enough to take a deep breath, Star dove into the water and looked for any sign of her fellow blonde. Unable to see much at first though, the princess garbled something out while holding up her wand, causing it to glow a bright pink and revealing Naruto floating several feet away with a cloud of blood forming around him.

Eyes widening in alarm as bubbles shot from her mouth and nose, Star swam over to the unconscious boy as fast as she could, wrapped an arm around him, and made a bee-line for the surface.

*Splash* "Gaaaah!" Bursting out of the water with a gasp, the princess coughed heavily while swimming over to the shore, where the rest of the group was waiting. Upon getting close, Naruto was pulled out of her grasp by Anko while Sakura helped her to stand while she spat out the remaining water that she'd inhaled.

"Is… is he… alright?" She asked between breaths as she panted greedily for air, her eyes focused on Anko who did a few quick handsigns and placed a softly glowing hand on Naruto's chest before moving upwards towards his throat, causing the unconscious blonde to suddenly cough up several mouthfuls of murky water.

"He'll live," The scantily clad woman stated after flipping the boy over and checking the cut on his back, which was thankfully starting to stop bleeding. "Just needs some rest and a few glasses of orange juice."

Sighing in relief, Star started to relax, only to abrupted tense back up as she looked around the area worriedly. "What happened… to that freaky sword guy?"

"Relax girl-gaki, Zabuza is long gone," Anko told her as she stood up with Naruto slung over her shoulder. "Some phony hunter-nin managed to slip away with him after you drugged him and Kakashi up with that funky mist."

"Whoooooa, pretty colors." Kakashi drawled out while stumbling around aimlessly a few feet away… before randomly making out with a tree, causing Sakura, Sasuke, and Tazuna to sweatdrop while Anko burst out laughing.

"Hehehehehe, anyway, it doesn't matter now, the man was good as dead already, this just bought him a few more hours." The purplette stated confidently once she got her laughter under control, getting the group's attention to turn back to her.

"What do you mean Anko-senpai?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Ooooh, Anko-senpai, I like the sound of that," Anko mused with a nod before reaching into her trench coat and pulling out yet another senbon somehow. "As for your question, let's just say these guys pack a lot more punch then you think at first glance."

To emphasize her point, Anko dangled the needle in front of them and gave it a gentle shake, which made a tiny drop of clear liquid to form on the exposed tip.

"You poisoned him." Sasuke said after a second, being the first to realize what he was seeing.

"Ding-ding, correct-a-mundo emo-gaki. It's my own personal recipe too, so unless that fake hunter-nin of his is some kind of medical genius, Zabuza'll be pushing up daisies by tomorrow morning." Anko said with a grin as she put the weapon back into her jacket, intentionally ignoring the raven-haired boy's annoyed glare for the nickname. "Now come on, it's getting late and I'm sure we all could use some rest after this… interesting day."

With her piece said, Anko looked pointedly at Tazuna, who quickly understood what she wanted and started walking in the direction of his home once more with her in tow.

"Oh, and one of you get Kakashi away from that tree before he's as stiff as it is! Or at least get some pictures for your senpai before he snaps out of it!" She yelled as she walked away, bursting into laughter once more.

-Several Hour Later-

"Uuuuuuuuh, my everything," A groan escaped Naruto's lips as his eyes slowly flickered open, the whiskered blonde slowly sitting up with a grimace as a dull throbbing pain pulsed through his whole body, before groggily looking around with a raised brow. "Where the hell am I?"

He was inside a moderately sized room with bare wooden walls, somewhat dirty carpeting, and a plain wooden door that was partially ajar. While the whiskered blonde was taking this all in, his brain finally kicked into gear enough to register the weight on his stomach, prompting him to look down and see a sleeping Star using his stomach as a pillow.

While most would think this would freak Naruto out or make him embarrassed, but they'd be wrong as the boy was actually used to waking up in situations like this. 'How?' You may ask. Simple, Star frequently crawled into his bed by mistake when going to sleep, given their beds were in the same room and all.

The first few times had been a bit awkward, but after fourth or fifth incident the duo just decided not to think about it too much.

So, without so much as blinking in surprise, Naruto reached out and gently shook his fellow blonde's shoulder until she stirred.

"Wha… Ish it time for breakfasht already?" Star asked sleepily as her head rose, before suddenly snapping awake fully upon seeing Naruto and pulling her fellow blonde into a back-breaking hug. "Naruto! You're awake! You're okay! Oh thank the stump!"

"Choking… not breathing… choking… not breathing!" Naruto gasped out, his face starting to turn blue before Star let him go with a sheepish smile.

"Sorry, I was just so worried after what happened."

"What are you…" Naruto started to ask, before trailing off as the memories from yesterday flooded through his head and he reached behind himself to feel the multiple bandages on his back. "Oh, that."

"Yeah, that," Star muttered before grabbing Naruto and pulling him into a hug again, only this one was much gentler then the last, snuggling her head into the crook of his neck. "Don't you ever scare me like that again."

Wrapping an arm around her, Naruto reached up with the other and gentle rubbed the top of her head comfortingly. "I'll try not to." He didn't want to lie, so he said the best thing he could think of.

It seemed to be enough though as the princess didn't say anything else and the pair simply stayed there in a comfortable silence for several minutes, with it only being broken when the door opened and a young woman with black hair stepped inside with two plates of food.

"Oh my, am I intruding on something?" She asked with an awkward smile upon seeing the hugging blondes, prompting the two to stop.

"Hi Ms. Tsunami, oooooh is that that awesome gyudody stuff you made last night?" Star asked back with a wide grin as she rushed over to the now named Tsunami with sparkles in her eyes, making the woman giggle softly at the princess's enthusiasm.

"It's gyudon Star-san, and yes it is," Tsunami said while handing one of the plates to Star, giggling once more as the cheery blonde started excitedly stuffing her face, before turning her attention back to Naruto. "Hello young man, it's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Tsunami."

"Nice to meet you Tsunami-chan, I'm Naruto Uzumaki." The whiskered blonde said with a wide grin, that promptly changed to a puzzled look when the woman pushed him back down onto the bed with a firm look.

"I'm glad that you're up already but you need to stay in bed young man or you'll aggravate your injuries." She stated while tucking him back in, but was stopped when Naruto shoved her hands away.

"Don't worry about it Tsunami-chan, I'll be fi-INE!" Naruto started to say with a wave of his hand as he sat back up, only for his voice to hitch when the sudden movement caused his back to seize up with a sharp flare of pain.

Falling back down onto his futon, the whiskered blonde could do nothing but lay there as his back muscles spasmed several times before settling down.

"I warned you." Tsunami said with an exasperated sigh while gently rolling the blonde onto his stomach and checking his bandages. Finding that they'd been messed up a bit by his squirming, she unwrapped them them, briefly exposing the still healing gash which made Star flinch slightly with a flash of guilt crossing her face, before quickly reapplying them properly.

Once she was done, the woman once again tucked him into bed, but left him on his stomach so to avoid aggravating his injury any further. This time Naruto didn't resist, though he did mutter several choice swears under his breath as the ravenette made sure he was set comfortably. "I may have never had to handle something as severe as this before, but I've dealt with enough back injuries from my Tou-san to know that you need to stay put and not move."

"Fiiiiiiine," Naruto drawled out with a pout, making Tsunami and Star giggle at the childishness of the actions. "But how am I supposed to eat if I'm not allowed to move?"

"Don't worry, I've got that covered!" Star exclaimed before Tsunami could say anything, grabbing the plate in the woman's grasp, plopping down next to her fellow blonde, and holding out a forkful of food to his lips. "Mom always did this for me whenever I was sick and couldn't feed myself, now say Aaah."

Not seeing anything wrong with that, Naruto nodded his head before opening his mouth "Aah."

' _I think that's my cue to leave,'_ Tsunami thought as she stood up and headed back out the door, stopping briefly to glance back, a giggle escaping her lips at the cute sight of Star feeding Naruto while filling him in on what happened after he was knocked out. ' _Oh my, those two are such an adorable couple.'_

-End Chapter-

AN: To avoid lots of questions later here's a few explanations. Like stated in last chapter, Zabuza focused on Star because she was the one keeping him from using his mist tactic, thus cutting into his fighting ability. He didn't run because he'd already revealed himself and running would just draw out the inevitable fight and waste his strength. He didn't think much of Anko's senbon because she intentionally made it seem like she was trying to immobilize him via pressure points like Haku does when she was really just trying to get a few hits so her poison would enter his body.

When Zabuza attacked Star and Naruto directly, the whole thing went down in just a few seconds, which is why neither Kakashi or Anko intervened. Anko knew Haku was a fake right away because she's an active member of I&T, thus is more recently informed of hunter-nin tactics, and the only reason she let them go was because she knew Zabuza was already good as dead since only she knows how to make the antidote for her poison and she needed to worry about her comrades. Kakashi and Zabuza were affected by Star's drug mist because it was an actual drug not a genjutsu, so they couldn't just dispel the effects like one.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or SvtFoE franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

Curiosity Broke the Scissors

-Chapter 12-

-Last Time-

 _"Don't worry, I've got that covered!" Star exclaimed before Tsunami could say anything, grabbing the plate in the woman's grasp, plopping down next to her fellow blonde, and holding out a forkful of food to his lips. "Mom always did this for me whenever I was sick and couldn't feed myself, now say Aaah."_

 _Not seeing anything wrong with that, Naruto nodded his head before opening his mouth "Aah."_

 _'I think that's my cue to leave,' Tsunami thought as she stood up and headed back out the door, stopping briefly to glance back, a giggle escaping her lips at the cute sight of Star feeding Naruto while filling him in on what happened after he was knocked out. 'Oh my, those two are such an adorable couple.'_

-And Now-

"Seriously? Kakashi made out with a tree?" Naruto asked Star incredulously, struggling to keep a straight face as his brain pictured such a scene.

"Uh-huh, it took us almost ten minutes to pry him off, I think he's still pulling splinters from his mask in the living room," Star said with a giggle as she continued to help Naruto eat. "Anyway, after that Tazuna brought us here to his home and Ms. Tsunami and Ms. Anko got you all patched up."

"They certainly did a good job," Naruto said as he sat up slightly and patted the bandages on his back. "I should get them something as a thank you. You think they'd like some ramen?"

"I don't know, but we can find out later… after you're feeling better," Star said, putting extra emphasize on the last part as she help him get into a comfortable sitting position. "Speaking of giving thanks though…"

Trailing of mid-sentence, the otherworldly princess suddenly leaned in super close, causing him to tilt his head in confusion.

"Uh Star, what are you-" *Chu* Naruto started to ask, only to be cut off when Star kissed his cheek.

"Thanks for saving my life *chu* twice," She finished saying with a smile while giving him a second kiss. "I'd give you a hug as well, but I think that would be best saved for later."

"…Yeah…" Naruto muttered dazedly, a light blush on his cheeks, before snapping out of it with a shake of his head and smiling back. "You didn't have to thank me Star-chan, we're friends so of course I'd have your back, just like I know you'd have mine, right?"

"Definitely," Star stated without a doubt in her voice. "Though as my friend Marco would say, 'I don't think they meant that literally Star'."

"But where's the fun in that then?" Naruto asked jokingly, causing both of them to burst into laughter for several moments until the whiskered blonde stopped due to the pain it was causing in his back. "Oh man that smarts, would you happen to know a healing spell or something to help with this Star-chan?"

Cringing slightly at the question, Star smiled awkwardly as she reached for her waist and thumbed the wand dangling by her hip. "Well, technically one yes… buuuuuut I really wouldn't recommend it."

"Bad experience?" Naruto asked curiously, getting a nod from the energetic magic-user. "What happened?"

"I tried fixing Marco's arm with it once and ended up turning it into a sentient evil tentacle that almost killed his rival during a karate match."

…

…

"How about an icepack instead?"

"Sure, not a problem."

-Meanwhile, Downstairs-

In the dining room of Tazuna's home, Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi could be found seated around a simple yet nice table along with Tazuna himself and a young brown-haired boy wearing a blue and white hat also known as Inari, Tsunami's son. Each of them was eating their own plates of food in total silence that was only broken by the sound of splashing water from the side where Tsunami was washing dishes and the occasional grunt of annoyance from Kakashi when he stopped to pull a splinter from his mask.

At first glance it would seem like a calm and relaxed moment as the group enjoyed their breakfast, however upon a closer look one could almost see the uneasy tension that filled the air. This was mostly due to Inari, who would frequently alternate between staring at his plate in a depressed manner and glaring at the three ninja at the table.

While Sasuke and Kakashi were pretty much unaffected, or in the former's case just didn't care what-so-ever, Sakura was starting to get annoyed by the boy's aggressive attitude and was ' _this_ ' close to finally cracking at him. Luckily for the little squirt though, the pinkette was snapped from her growing irritation by a loud whooshing sound upstairs followed by yelling and thundering footsteps.

""AAAAAH!"" Naruto and Star screamed out as they came bursting into the room, both of them covered in snow, slightly blue, and shivering like crazy. Completely baffled by the sight, nobody in the room could react as the blonde duo quickly shook off the frozen powder and latched onto the nearest person they could reach for warmth.

"EEEEEK! COLD!" In this case Tsunami.

"…What did you two do?" Sakura asked dully as she and everyone else stared at the Naruto and Star as they smooshed Tsunami between them in a tight hug.

"No-nothing to w-worry about, just a-a tiny l-little bliz-z-zard I m-may or may not h-have accidentally s-started inside t-the guest be-bedroom while t-trying to m-make Naruto an icepack f-f-for his b-back." Star stuttered out, offering a sheepish smile as her teeth chattered wildly.

"W-we'll fix i-it up right a-away," Naruto added with a similar expression…

*ACHOO*

…before sneezing loudly and clinging even tighter to Tsunami's side. "After we w-warm up a b-bit more fir-first if that's alright with you Tsunami-san."

"N-no problem." The woman said, smiling awkwardly as she shivered a little bit as well from the two cold teens hugging her.

"…Sasuke, why don't you be a pal and go see how much a mess these two made?" Kakashi asked with an eye smile, making the brooding Uchiha roll his own eyes with a bored grunt.

"Whatever." He muttered as he stood up and headed out of the room, though unnoticed by most was the hidden intrigue in his gaze when he looked at Star on the way by.

Once he was gone, Kakashi turned his attention back to the shivering duo as his cheery expression was replaced with one of concern. "Are you doing alright Naruto? How's your back?"

"It's fine… I think, can't really feel a-anything right now to be h-honest," Naruto admitted as he stopped shivering as much and his skin gradually returned to its natural tanned color. "It was aching a-a bit earlier but nothing I can't h-handle."

"Well alright, but you better take it easy for the next few days," Kakashi said with a stern look. "You may have an impressive healing ability but you are nowhere near invincible."

"Healing ability?" Sakura repeated under her breath in confusion as her gaze jumped from Naruto and Kakashi several times. ' _What is Kakashi-sensei talking about? Naruto doesn't have any healing ability that I'd know of, he'd never shut up about it if he did.'_

"D-don't worry Mr. Kakashi, I-I'll make sure he does," Star said with a mock salute, finally letting go of poor Tsunami along with Naruto, before the princess looked around the room with a tilted head. "Hey, w-where's Ms. Anko?"

"She took off early this morning, said she was gonna make sure we didn't have anymore trouble from that Gato fellow while we're here," Kakashi said casually, making both blondes grimace slightly as they had idea what he meant by that. "She'll probably be back in an hour or two.

"More like never cause she's dead by now." Inari muttered loudly, getting everyone's attention on the depressed boy.

"Inari! That was uncalled for, apologize." Tsunami scolded her son with a heavy frown, one that grew deeper when the boy huffed in defiance.

"It's true though, anyone who has ever stood up to Gato was killed," He said pessimistically while glaring at the ninja still in the room. "What chance do these guys stand against him and all his men? Just you wait, pretty soon they will come marching into town with her body and-"

*Bang*

Inari was cut off mid-sentence when the front door suddenly slammed open and none other then Anko herself stepped inside, a wide grin on her lips and a large burlap sack with a few suspiciously red stains on it hefted over her shoulder.

"Hey gakis! Did you all miss me?" She asked as she waltzed up to the table, dropping the bag she was carrying next to with a heavy *thud*, the brim of the bag falling open to reveal a bunch of ryo, jewelry, and other such valuables stuffed inside.

"Actually we were just talking about you." Kakashi said with his iconic eye smile while everyone else was stunned silent at the treasure hoard.

"Oh really?" Anko muttered, her grin widening slightly before randomly pulling Naruto into a hug so that his head was smooshed between her breasts as she put on a mock betrayed expression and flopped into an empty seat. "How could you Boy-gaki!? You promised never to talk about our passionate night together!"

"MMMPHMPHM!" Naruto's muffled yells filled the air as the whiskered blonde waved his arms around wildly.

"What are you doing!?" Sakura yelled in surprise while her, Star, and Tsunami's faces all turned bright red from what the purplette had said.

' _Lucky little bastard.'_ Tazuna thought with an envious glare even as a chuckle slipped passed lips.

"For shame Naruto," Kakashi scolded jokingly, shaking his head in mock disappointment while pulling out a familiar orange book and flipping to the page he'd left off at. "Everyone knows a gentleman never kisses and tells."

"PHAW! I'm not taking dating advice from a guy who reads smut in public and is three hours late for everything!" Naruto exclaimed as he managed to pull his head free of Anko's bust. However, his freedom was brief as Anko pulled him back in with her superior strength, though at least this time it was the back of his head being smooshed into her bosom.

"Oh, so now we're in a relationship, are we? _How bold of you_." She said, whispering the last bit into his ear in a sultry tone that made the boy's face do a near perfect imitation of a tomato.

"That's not… I didn't… I just…"

"Bwahahaha! Oh man, you are just so cute when you're embarrassed!" Anko giggled, petting the top of Naruto's head while the whiskered blonde pouted and grumbled under his breath that he wasn't cute. "Hey Kakashi, you mind if I keep this gaki? I have been thinking about getting my own little student for a while now and he is just so damn precious."

His shoulders shaking slightly from resisting the urge to fall over laughing as Naruto's grumbling and blushing doubled, from both Anko's words and the way she continued to scratch the top of his head like one would a pet, Kakashi gave the best nonchalant shrug he could muster.

"By all means, help yourself, I'm sure he doesn't mind," The masked man said as the orange-loving boy glared at him with all of his might before jabbing his thumb at the sack the purplette had brought with her. "So what's up with that? I thought you went out to deal with Gato, not go shopping."

"Hey, a girl can never have enough accessories, or at least that's what those cheesy magazines would have you believe," Anko said, giggling slightly at her own joke before calming down. "But in all seriousness, those are just a few souvenirs I picked up after I dealt with the midget and his little army of bandits."

"Wait, by dealt with do you mean…" Tazuna started to ask, only to trail off with shock etched on his face when Anko reached into her trench coat and pulled out a blood-covered pair of sunglasses for everyone to see.

"Does this answer your question?"

"You… You… You…"

"But that's not… how could… I don't…"

"But Gato was a major shipping magnate with connections all over the Elemental Nations, surely this won't be without consequence for your village." Tsunami muttered in concern as he father and son babbled on, as that was one of the main reasons the villagers hadn't tried to assassinate Gato themselves.

"Actually it really wont be," Kakashi stated calmly while turning the page of his book. "By hiring Zabuza and his men to attack us, Gato essentially declared himself as an enemy of Konohagakure and we are free to retaliate in self-defense as long as we have the proper evidence to prove as much."

"Evidence like say these little guys right here," Anko added, tossing the bloody sunglasses aside before reaching into her coat again, this time pulling out several large accounting books and rolled up contracts. "Which just so happen to detail all of that midget's dirty dealings such as drug trafficking, human trafficking, swindling, and of course hiring a certain cleaver wearing jonin to kill us all."

…

' _Where the hell was she keeping those?'_ Everyone wondered at the same time, none of them noticing as a snow covered and very annoyed looking Sasuke returned and flopped into his seat.

"Alright, but how did you even manage it then? He had dozens of guards around his home, maybe even hundreds." Tazuna asked in disbelief. He knew ninjas were much tougher then a regular warrior, but he still doubted that just one could take out that many men by themselves.

"You mean those two-bit mercs that cheapskate had crawling all over the place? Puh-lease, I could have dealt with those wannabe chumps blindfolded with both arms and a leg tied behind my back," Anko scoffed as she put the books away and went back to scratching Naruto's head, ignoring the whiskered blonde's indignant cry as she did so. "Hell, I got so bored I actually ended up screwing around a bit just to make it a bit more challenging."

"Do we even want to know what you did to those poor souls?" Kakashi asked, peeking over his book enough to show his raised brow.

"Meh, probably not." Anko said with a shrug.

"Alright, and why the bag? A storage scroll would have been a lot less of a hassle to transport."

"You think I don't know that?" Reaching into her coat a third time, Anko rifled around for a few moments before pulling out a single scroll that was barely the size of her palm. "That bag is just everything I couldn't fit in here. You would not believe the amount of valuable crap that midget had laying around. Like seriously, who in the world needs gold plated shoes?"

Total silence filled the room after that as Anko put the scroll back into her coat and once again went back to petting Naruto's head. ("Oi! Stop it!)

"…So Gato's dead? He's truly gone forever? Just like that?" Tazuna asked after several moments, staring at Anko with a blank expression.

"One hundred percent dead as a doornail," She stated with a roll of her eyes before jabbing a thumb over her shoulder. "If you still don't believe me you can go to the midget's house and see for yourself, though I wouldn't recommend it for the weak stomached."

"Yeah… I think I'll go do that… excuse me please." Tazuna said slowly as he stood up and shuffled towards the front door, his whole body trembling slightly as he went.

Once he was gone, silence reigned again as Inari and Tsunami continued to stare at Anko with disbelief and shock for a minute or so until she stood up with a bored sigh. "Whelp, as nice as it is being gawked at like this, I'm gonna go check out the local hot springs. Ciao!"

"Hey! Wait! Let me go!" Naruto squawked out as he was carried along by the purplette, squirming around wildly in a vain attempt to get free.

"Nope, you're coming with me boy-gaki. As my new little student, we need to get better acquainted with each-other, and for that there is nothing better than some good old fashioned skinship." Anko said with a Cheshire grin as she started to scratch the boy's head once again.

"Will you stop that!? I am not a pet!"

"Student, pet, what's the difference?"

"There's a huge difference! And I'm not even your student anyway!"

"So you admit that you are my pet then."

"GAH! I need an adult!"

"I am an adult."

"…I need a responsible adult!"

"Well, as your sensei, I say that you'll be just fine in her care Naruto."

"I SAID A RESPONSIBLE ADULT! NOT A LAZY TREE KISSING SMUT READER!"

"Ha! He got you there Kakashi."

Watching all of this go down from the sidelines, Star, Sakura, Sasuke, and Tsunami couldn't help but sweat drop at the ridiculousness of the whole thing.

" _Should we do something_?" Star asked Sakura quietly, honestly not sure what to do right now.

"Y _es, we should… we should back away really slowly and make ourselves as unnoticeable as possible so we aren't caught up in the insanity_." Sakura whispered while doing just that, even though Anko and Naruto had already left by that point.

-Several Minutes Later-

"See, this isn't so bad, is it?" Anko asked with a smirk as she leaned against the side of the small hot spring she and Naruto were currently soaking in, which was part of the Peaceful Tides, a cozy albeit partly rundown public bathhouse.

"I guess." Said whiskered blonde muttered while avoiding looking directly at the purplette, since naturally the only thing she was wearing currently was a plain white towel wrapped around her waist. The warm mineral water was soothing on his sore muscles yet at the same time was causing the still healing and now exposed wound on his back to sting a bit, though the pain was slowly fading away over time.

"Oh would you relax boy-gaki, I ain't gonna get upset if you take a look," Anko said with a roll of her eyes. "It would be pretty hypocritical of me to drag you here and then get mad just because you saw me mostly naked."

"I know, it's just…" Naruto trailed off as he glanced at Anko, before quickly looking away with a light blush.

"Let me guess, first time you've been this close to a mostly nude chick, well a real nude chick?" Anko asked bluntly, adding the last part when she remembered the boy's 'original jutsu', making the whiskered blonde's blush deepen as he nodded. "Well you best get used to it while you can, as a shinobi you'll be expected to deal with all sorts of situations, many of which will no doubt involve women being undressed."

"Wait, really?" Naruto asked, his gaze snapping towards Anko with disbelief clear on his face.

"Of course, seduction and sexual distraction are two of the most common tactics kunoichi will use to gain an advantage in a fight," Anko said with a nod, before grinning deviously as an idea pooped into her head. "Let's say for example that I was your enemy."

Naruto yelped in surprise with his face practically glowing when the purplette suddenly moved from across the spring to right beside him with her breasts mushing up against his arm. "Wha…wha-wha… wha… wha…"

" _All I have to do is keep you distracted with all of this…"_ She whispered into his ear in a seductive tone while tapping a few fingers against his upper thigh, dangerously close to his groin, causing a shiver to run down the boy's spine. A second later though, Naruto froze up as he felt cold metal pressed against his throat, prompting him to look down and see the kunai held up to his throat. " _…So that by the time you finally realize something's wrong, you're already dead."_

Moving back to her previous spot, Anko twirled the small dagger around her finger with a chuckle. "Of course I'd be a lot more subtle in a real situation, but I'm sure you got the idea."

As he was calming down, Naruto frowned once he realized he'd been pranked and retaliated by throwing a bundle of nearby spare towels in the woman's face.

"I'll admit I deserved that," Anko chuckled as she pulled the cloth off, before ducking when another roll flew at her. "Hey, don't push your luck boy-gaki."

Already holding up a third towel in a throwing position, Naruto paused mid-swing at these words before slowly lowering it when Anko fixed him with a dead serious stare, deciding it wasn't worth the risk… for now.

"Good gaki," Anko said, smirking victoriously while leaning back with a relaxed sigh. "Now all joking aside, I'm serious when I say you should remember that little lesson. It'll save your ass one day, I guarantee it."

"If you say so," Naruto mumbled with a shrug, before cringing slightly as the motion sent a sharp twinge across his spine. While nowhere near as bad as when he'd first woke up, it was still pretty painful and annoying. "Ugh, dammit, stupid back. I'll be so glad when this is over with."

"Speaking of which, turn around and let me have a look." Anko said while sitting back up, fixing her towel up when it started to slip a bit from water weight.

"Why?" Naruto asked with a cocked brow. "You already checked it when we first got in."

"I have my reasons, now stand up and turn around." Anko ordered firmly, making the whiskered blonde grumble under his breath in annoyance as he got onto his feet.

Giving the woman one last dull glare, Naruto slowly spun around until he was facing the opposite direction until his wound was fully revealed. However, instead of the large bloody gash that had been made just last night, there was instead a thin mildly inflamed line a third the size surround by new pink skin. More notably though was the soft red glow and light amount of steam that was emitting from the cut as it gradually healed before Anko's eyes.

' _Hmm, good, the hot spring is bolstering his healing just like I thought it would.'_ The purplette thought with an approving nod. When she'd checked the wound earlier, it had been only about half healed and his regeneration had been working at a much slower rate. In truth, this was one of the main reasons she'd insisted on dragging the boy along to the hot springs with her.

…Well that, and he was just so fun to tease.

Just to be safe though, Anko gingerly prodded the affected area, her fingers glowing an incredibly faint blue as she sent small pulses of chakra into the newly grown tissue to see if there were any malformations or such hidden from sight.

Doing his best to ignore the weird itching sensation this examination caused, Naruto focused his attention on the not-so-quiet chattering coming in from over the wall from outside the springs.

"Can you believe it?! Gato's dead!"

"I know! This is the best day ever!"

"Who, Gato's actually dead?!"

"Yeah! Him and his whole crew got wiped out by those shinobi Tazuna brought with him!"

"Oh thank Kami! We're finally free of that Teme!"

"Wow, that did not take long to get around." The whiskered blonde thought aloud.

"Well of course it did gaki," Anko said with a roll of her eyes. "You saw how bad it was here, it's only natural that having the source of their misery suddenly get dealt with would get a lot of attention."

"Fair enough," Naruto muttered as images of the rundown state everything was in flashed in his mind. "Though it probably helped when you threw all that money around at the town square while yelling 'Courtesy of Gato, may he rot in hell'."

"What can I say, I was feeling charitable and he certainly doesn't need it anymore," Anko said with a giggle before patting Naruto's shoulder. "Alright, I'm all done here, now let's get you all gussied up."

"Heh? Gussied up?" Naruto parroted as his head snapped around to look at Anko in confusion. "Gussied up for what?"

All he got in response was a familiar smirk that sent dread down the boy's spine.

-End Chapter-

-Canon Omake, Anko's Mansion Misadventure Part 1-

"Alright you sacks of crap! Listen up!" A burly man yelled out as he marched back and forth in the courtyard of Gato's mansion with five other men standing before him in typical bandit attire. "We just got word that a couple of ninja have arrived in this backwater village!"

The man pivoted around so that he was facing the four lined up men with a stern glare. "This means that we will be doubling the up all security around this place! Ninja are sneaky little bastards so we have to be completely aware of our surroundings!"

Going back to his pacing, burly dude walked past the three men and Anko wearing a fake mustache while he continued to lecture them.

"Now I've dealt with ninja before, so I'm not fooled by their little tricks like most people are," The man said as he suddenly stopped pacing in order to glare at the two men and Anko. "Which is why I've been tasked with getting you slackers up to speed."

Turning around and once more marching back and forth across the courtyard, burly man cracked his neck and knuckles menacingly making the solitary man flinch nervously.

"Now the most important thing is constant diligence. Ninja specialize in stealth, so you cannot let your guard down for even a second. For all you know a ninja could be just outside right now looking for a way in or hiding out in the village waiting for you to be all alone so they can take you out."

"Or she's right behind a jabbering fool that she's about to take out now that she's dealt with his buddies."

"Exactly, which is why…" Burly guy started to say, only to trail off as he realized three things. A, all of his men were missing, B, the voice was coming from behind him, and C, said voice was clearly female. "…Oh son of a b-"

*Crack*

"Yeah, definitely that last one."

-End Omake-

AN: Mostly filler chapter this time. Hope you all enjoyed regardless and please review.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Svtfoe franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming.

Thank you for reading and lease enjoy

Curiosity Broke the Scissors

-Chapter 13-

-Last Time-

 _"What can I say, I was feeling charitable and he certainly doesn't need it anymore," Anko said with a giggle before patting Naruto's shoulder. "Alright, I'm all done here, now let's get you all gussied up."_

 _"Heh? Gussied up?" Naruto parroted as his head snapped around to look at Anko in confusion. "Gussied up for what?"_

 _All he got in response was a familiar smirk that sent dread down the boy's spine._

-And Now-

' _Huh, that wasn't so bad.'_ Naruto thought as he and Anko stepped out of a rundown looking clothing shop dressed in new kimonos, the former's being a burnt orange with deep navy trimming while the latter's colored pitch black with violet trimming and, per her usual style, a bit skimpy. ' _What the hell were Shikamaru and Kiba complaining about all this time?'_

After all the 'horror stories' he'd heard from his two friends from their shopping trips with their mothers, and sister in Kiba's case, the whiskered blonde had been expecting to deal with hours of constant outfit changes and nitpicking. Instead, the pair had simply walked into the shop and browsed the sadly limited stock for a bit, trying on a couple here and there, before settling on their current outfits.

The only real downside had been…

"Don't you look just adorable~!" Anko said teasingly while pulling Naruto into a one-armed hug, smooshing his head into the side of her chest as she scratched the top of his head.

…Yeah, that.

"Will you stop that?" The blonde grumbled while swatting the purplette's hand away before crossing his arms with a pout. "And stop calling me that, I'm not adorable dammit, I am a badass ninja."

"Oh sweet boy-gaki, of course you're a badass," Anko said with a grin, ruffling the boy's hair playfully. "You're my cute little student now after all, which automatically makes you more badass than ever before."

"Ugh, how many times do I have to… whoa…" Naruto started to grumble before trailing off with a stunned expression once he finally looked around. Everywhere he looked people were hard at work, some fixing or cleaning up the run down buildings, others were busy hauling in food and dispersing them to various shops, and even more were busy setting up various makeshift decorations such as hastily made paper lanterns and old string lights.

One thing they all had in common though was the happiness practically bursting from all of them, bright smiles on almost everyone's face and lively chatter filling the air as they worked which completely destroyed the once gloomy and depressed aura covering the town.

"Not bad, these guys work fast, I figured it take at least a day or two before it got this far," Anko said with a low whistle while idly moving them both to the side as a group of laughing children ran by with freshly cooked kabobs before glancing at a cart full of crates another man was pulling along, noticing a certain logo printed on the side. 'So, _they raided the midget's kitchen, smart.'_

It seemed Gato was as paranoid as he was greedy, or just plain gluttonous, as when she'd been waltzing around his mansion Anko had found enough fresh and preserved food stored in that place to feed him, his army of thugs, and the whole town at least thrice over.

And it was clear that wasn't the only thing the people of wave had taken from Gato's home if the mahogany doors and sandalwood floorboards being used to fix up homes or the expensive silk curtains being sown into new clothing said anything. At this rate, she wouldn't be surprised if the entire mansion was stripped to the foundations by the end of the week.

"Wow, looks like one heck of a party is about to go down," Naruto muttered once he recovered from his surprise as he and Anko walked before glancing up at said purplette, doing his best to ignore the breast squishing against the back of his head. "Is that why you dragged me off for new clothes?"

"Well duh, these guys just got their freedom and livelihoods back after months of constant oppression, if that ain't a good reason to party then I don't know what is," Anko said with a grin while going back to petting the blonde's head. "Well, that and I figured you'd want to look nice for your girlfriend."

"For the last time, Star-chan is not my girlfriend." Naruto stated with a light blush, not even bothering to complain about the petting this time.

"Not yet you mean," Anko retorted in a sultry tone while wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. "C'mon, I've seen how you two act together. You so have the hots for her, admit it~"

"I-I have no idea what y-you're talking about." He muttered as his blush reached the level of a certain easily flustered heiresses patented 'flustered red'.

"Liar~ Liar~, face on fire~!" The woman sang playfully while gently pinching his whiskered cheek.

"Stop that!" Swatting her hand away as they turned down an alleyway, Naruto sent Anko a powerful glare that was completely ruined by his flustered appearance. "And you're not even singing it right, it's pants on fire not face on fi-OI!"

"Yep, that's definitely on fire." Anko said jokingly while patting the front of the boy's pants, giggling loudly as steam shot from the boy's head like a cannon and he slapped her arm away much harder than before.

"…You set that up."

"Guilty~"

"I'm going to get you back for that."

"You can try."

Thankfully, Anko apparently decided she'd done enough teasing ("For now, mwahahaha!" OI! Stop the fourth wall breaking! I'm on a budget damnit!) and the rest of their journey back to Tazuna's passed in relative silence.

Upon arriving, the duo were greeted with the interesting sight of Sakura dressed in a dark red Kimono slightly too big for her and Tsunami in a dark navy one, both of them behind a makeshift stand handing out fruity shaved ice desserts to anyone who passed by. Meanwhile, a sour looking Sasuke in his usual attire stood off to the side of the stand holding a plain sign simply reading 'Free Shaved Ice' and Kakashi, also in his usual outfit, was leaning against a nearby tree reading a certain orange book.

"Hey guys! Seems you all have been busy." Anko called out with a grin, getting all their attention at once as she and Naruto walked up to the stand.

"We could say the same to you as well," Kakashi said with an eye-smile while looking the two over. "I see you decided to do a little shopping."

"Yep, don't we look just fabulous?" The purplette asked while striking a few poses, Naruto grumbling irritably under his breath as he was forced to pose with her.

"It's a suiting look for you," Tsunami chipped in with a smile, a giggle slipping past her lips at the comical sight as she held up a tray of shaved ice towards the pair. "Would you like some? We have plenty to go around."

"Ooh, don't mind if I do." Finally letting Naruto go, much to his relief, Anko quickly swiped one of the icy treats. However, instead of also taking one of the disposable wooden spoons as well, the scantily clad kunoichi dipped her tongue straight into the cup before using the appendage to scoop over half the dessert into her mouth at once.

' _Guess someone has a bit of a sweet tooth.'_ Tsunami thought, giggling again as she watched Anko quickly slurped down the shaved ice in just a few seconds and grabbed a fresh one.

Meanwhile, taking advantage of the purplette's distracted state, Naruto moved to the other side of the stand and slumped into the now empty chair next to Sakura with a sigh.

"So… have fun?" Said pinkette asked while handing the blond a cup of shaved ice which he gladly accepted, her tone half curious half unsure she wanted to know.

"Never. Again." Was all he said in response while sedately eating his treat.

Unable to help herself, Sakura laughed softly at her teammate's dramatics, earning a sour look from the blonde. It only lasted a few moments though before he let it drop and started chuckling as well, the cheery atmosphere proving too infectious to stay upset.

Once he settled down, Naruto took a few more bites before suddenly blushing softly before looking away and gesturing to his shoulder. "Uh Sakura… you're Kimono."

"Huh?" Glancing at her own shoulder reflexively, Sakura's eyes widened with a blush of her own as she saw her outfit sliding down and revealing the bare skin underneath. "Oh dammit, not again."

As she was busy readjusting her outfit, Naruto made sure to keep his eyes in the other direction, sweating nervously as he felt the strong gaze boring into the back of his head just daring him to try taking a peek. However, after a few moments the blond blinked in confusion when he noticed something, or more precisely something missing.

"Hey Sakura, where's Star-chan?" He asked while looking around the area.

"She's inside getting more snow from that blizzard thing you guys made in the guest bedroom," The pinkette stated while finishing the last few adjustments and tapping the boy's shoulder to tell him it was okay to look now. "She should be back-"

"Hey Sakura! Is this enough? Oh hey Naruto!"

"-any second now." Sakura finished as she and Naruto turned to see Star walking out of the house carrying a large metal bucket almost as big as herself filled to the brim with sparkling white snow, so that only her head and feet was visible. "Yeah Star, that should be fine for now, just make sure to set it down in the shade this time so it doesn't melt."

"Got it." The energetic blonde said with a nod before spinning on her heel to the left and walking over to the closest shady area, which was underneath the tree Kakashi was leaning against.

"Glgh!" The moment she did this though, Naruto choked on his shaved ice and his eyes almost fell out of his sockets from how wide they got as he got a good look at what his room/teammate was wearing. In place of her normal colorful attire, Star wore a beautiful knee-length dress that started out a royal purple at top but gradually transitioned to a light pink, which seemed to ripple like water as the sunlight reflected off the silky cloth.

It hugged her chest and waist just the right amount to show her well-developed figure without hindering her ability to move while the straps consisted of several interwoven strips. The neckline was cut into a small V which revealed the barest amount of cleavage and had a small amount of embroidering along with the hem. Finally, spread out across the bottom of the dress were a handful of incredibly faint heart-shaped markings which were almost impossible to see except when the light flashed over them.

All in all, it was a very beautiful dress which combined with Star's already great looks and the small amount of either moisture glistening on the princess's exposed skin and you were given one hell of a stunning view, at least that was Naruto's opinion.

In fact, the whiskered blonde was so caught up in his shocked stupor he didn't even noticed as a certain dango-loving kunoichi set her crossed arms and chin atop his noggin with a wide smirk. "Enjoying the view, boy-gaki?"

"…"

"I'll take your silent drooling as a yes," Anko said with a chuckle while idly wiping the boy's chin with a napkin she got from… somewhere, before turning her attention back to Star as the girl set her load down. "Looking good over there girl-gaki, loving the new dress."

"Thanks! I'm glad you like it." The bubbly blonde said, smiling brightly as she walked over to the stand.

"How could I not, it's damn gorgeous," As she spoke, Anko straightened up and met Star halfway so she could grab a piece of the dress, running her fingers over the soft silky fabric with an impressed whistle. "So where'd you get it?"

"Ino made it for me using my silk," Star explained while holding her palm out as a small thread of said silk formed. "She said it was a thank you for letting her use it."

"Well she did a hell of a job, remind me to ask her to make me one when we get back," Anko said with a nod… before grinning mischievously and grabbing Star's shoulders. Surprised at the purplette's actions, Star could only blink in confusion as the woman spun them around so she was standing behind the princess and both were facing Naruto. "Hey boy-gaki, what's with the silent treatment? Aren't you gonna tell your girlfriend just how pretty she looks?"

That finally managed to snap the whiskered boy out of his stupor as his and his fellow blonde's faces both turned deep scarlet.

"I-I-I told y-you we're n-n-not dating! B-b-b-baka-sensei!" He stuttered out before hurling his shave ice at the purplette, whom effortlessly caught the frozen treat with a laugh, and the one he threw after that, and the one after that. "B-baka!"

' _Oh my kami… Naruto turned into a tsundere.'_ Sakura thought while cupping a hand over her mouth in a failed attempt to stifle her giggles, with Tsunami joining her a few moments later.

…

"…Well Naruto?" A soft voice asked out, causing everyone to pause briefly before turning towards the source, which just so happened to be Star. Her cheek marks glowing a soft pink as she stared at the ground as she fiddled with the hem of her dress, the otherworldly princess posed with a shy smile. "What do you think?"

"Uh… well… it erm…" Stumbling over his words as he somehow did the impossible and turned even redder, Naruto found himself barely even able to look at his friend without choking up and began scratching the back of his head nervously. "You… you look a-amazing Star-chan."

The moment these words passed from his lips, Star's whole face seemed to light up with joy before suddenly zipping over and pulling her fellow blonde into a bone-crushing hug. "Awww, thanks Naruto! I think you look great as well!"

"…Thanks…" Naruto gasped out weakly, though whether from embarrassment or lack of air nobody was quite sure of.

' _Heh, looks like my work here is done.'_ Anko thought with a knowing smirk before walking over to Tsunami's side. "So Tsu-san, where's grumpy grampa and grumpy gaki? Out partying already?"

"Huh?" Confused at first on who the dango-lover was talking about, it only took a moment for it to click in Tsunami's mind as she sighed. "Oh, Tou-san said he was going to the bar, said he needed the strong stuff."

-At the Bar-

"There was blood everywhere, and the guts… ooooh the guts were just splayed out for the world to see," Tazuna said after downing an entire bottle of Sake in one go while dozens of men and women surrounded him listening avidly to his every word. "I know I should have been disgusted, yet all I could think was that seeing Gato's mutilated corpse like that… it was quite possible the greatest thing ever."

""""Amen!"""" Several men cheered in agreement while downing Sake of their own.

-And back-

"As for Inari, well…" Trailing with an awkward smile, the woman gestured to one of the windows of her home, prompting Anko to look in curiously where she was greeted with the sight of a blank-faced Inari curled up in a ball rocking back and forth in the middle of the living room. "I think he's feeling a bit conflicted."

"Makes sense," Anko said with an understanding nod before clapping a hand on the mother's shoulder. "Well then, how about we go hit up the town and see what this little party has to offer? I wanna go have some fun and I need a wingman."

"Um, thank you for the offer, but-"

"Great! Let's go!" The purplette cut in before Tsunami could finish, linking their arms together and dragging the ravenette away. "I think I saw someone giving out dango over this way! Hopefully they have Chichi!"

Poor Tsunami was left unable to get even a single word in, an adorable look of confusion and befuddlement on her face that just screamed 'what's going on?' as she was pulled along until both women vanished from view.

"Oh! We should go too! I LOVE parties!" Star exclaimed excitedly while jumping in place with a now blue-faced Naruto still held tightly in her grasp before sprinting off into the town at blinding speed.

*Snort*

*Snicker* "Hahahahahaha!" Finally unable to keep it in anymore, Sakura burst into a massive fit of laughter, tears forming in her eyes as she doubled over and clutched her stomach. "By Kami, that was the funniest and sweetest thing I've ever seen. Don't you agree Sasuke-kun?"

…

…

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura called out in confusion, her laughter dying away after realizing she hadn't received any response, not even the Uchiha's patented 'Hn'. Glancing over at where the withdrawn boy had been standing, all the pinkette's remaining humor vanished upon finding nothing but the sign he'd been holding nailed to a fencepost by a kunai.

Not only that, but after another look around, she found that Kakashi had also vanished, with a scarecrow that was crudely dressed in his likeness taking his place underneath the tree. Almost immediately upon noticing this, a vein bulged on Sakura's forehead as she realized what just happened.

"Why those little… they ditched me!"

-Later-

Several hours seemed to pass in the blink of an eye for Naruto and Star as they explored the town, watching in awe as the once budding celebration exploded into an outright festival. With the sun starting to set, the various lanterns and lights set up really stuck out, lighting up the whole village with a gentle and warm glow.

Dozens of food stands cropped up everywhere, with the ones working them eagerly passing out all sorts of snacks and treats for everyone to enjoy. All over the place, families and friends could be found grouped together, some just celebrating their liberation with booze and food while others seemed to be discussing plans on how to get their economy back on track.

Naturally, more then a few were being a bit more… promiscuous about their newfound jubilation, but let's not focus on that.

People that had once been covered in filth, wearing rags, and looked to have lost all hope now rushed across the streets clean, properly clothed, and having the times of their lives. Mothers watched in pure joy as their children enjoyed proper meals and got to play without fear while husbands and wives talked excitedly about their now promising futures.

Some people had even set up a few makeshift game stands, mostly parents who really wanted their kids to truly experience joy for the first time in what must've felt like eternity. There were classic ones like goldfish scooping, which was using a mixture of common freshwater guppies and several exotic goldfish (three guesses where those came from), and some made up ones like lantern popping, where kids tossed stones at floating paper lanterns to 'pop' them.

There was even a stand where an old lady was giving away festival masks she'd made herself, which were amazingly well crafted given the short amount of time she had to create them.

And if that wasn't enough, several times the blonde duo found themselves surrounded by crowds of locals wanting to show their gratitude towards them, word having gotten around about the group of ninjas Tazuna had brought, showering the pair in praise and thanks.

While Star didn't mind too much, used to such attention and simply acted like she normally would, Naruto was admittedly at a bit of a loss at first, caught off guard by the overwhelming amount of positivity. Thankfully for the whiskered blonde, his companion was quick to catch on to this and helped ease him into the situations until he could handle himself.

Before long the celebration reached its zenith an almost everyone in the village, more specifically everyone still conscious after all the drinking and partying, soon found themselves gathered at the town square, where they could be found partying, drinking, or some combination of the two.

"Coolest! Party! Ever!" Star cheered with a wide grin as she flopped onto a bench, a cat kabuki top half mask resting slightly askew atop her head and a bag of water with a few fishes in one hand while she munched on a stick of dango held in the other.

"It has been pretty awesome," Naruto agreed, munching on some dango as well while taking the seat next to the excited princess with a nostalgic sigh. "Too bad it's almost over already."

"Yeah."

A comfortable silence fell over the pair as they sat there, eating their snacks in peace and watching the villagers celebrate. During that time, Naruto spotted Anko and Tsunami a ways off enjoying some saucers of Sake, both starting to look more than a bit tipsy if the reddening cheeks and constant laughing fits was any indicator.

Meanwhile, Star saw Sakura and Sasuke across the square, the former looking to be trying to chat with the latter only to be met with stony silence, and Kakashi sitting atop of a roof reading his book while somehow eating a kabob through his mask.

' _How does he do that?'_ The princess couldn't help but wonder with a quirked brow. -~~-

However, before she could contemplate on that mystery for long, her attention was drawn back towards the square itself as a calm melodious tune filled the air. Glancing around, her eyes started sparkling in excitement and her cheek marks turned into stars upon seeing several couples start to slowly make their way onto the now cleared square and start to dance.

"OOOOH! Dancing! I love dancing!" Star exclaimed, shooting up from her seat with an excited laugh before turning around and grabbing Naruto's arm. "Come on Naruto! Let's dance!"

"Whoa! Alright! Alright!" Said whiskered blonde yelped out, not really given a chance to say no before he was dragged out onto the square. "Just so you know though, I have no idea how to dance."

"Don't worry about it," Star stated with a soft smile as they stopped near the middle and she spun around to face him while grabbing his hands. Interlacing her fingers with his with her dominant hand, she placed his other on her waist before sidling up close and resting her now free hand on his shoulder. "Just follow my lead, okay?"

"…Okay." Naruto said with an identical smile, even as a light blush formed on his cheeks.

And with that, the pair began to dance.

It started out a bit awkward at first, with Naruto accidentally stepping on Star's toes a few times and stumbling a few times from embarrassment, but after a few minutes they eventually managed to find their rhythm.

They kept to a slow waltz, gradually moving across the square in time with the music while maneuvering through the slowly growing crowd of dancers. Feeling some nervousness start to build up inside at the increasing number of people around them, Naruto did his best to tune them out by keeping his attention solely on Star.

From her cute rounded cheeks with those neat heart-shaped markings to the lovely shine of her hair and then the amazing way her blue eyes seemed to glisten in the light. Before long, the boy found himself lost within her gaze, unaware that very similar series of thoughts was passing through Star's mind as she stared back.

So consumed by their thoughts, neither blonde noticed as a slightly soberer looking Tsunami was being gently coaxed by a still pretty buzzed Anko into taking a microphone the purplette was holding. It her a little bit, but eventually kunoichi's persistence won out and the mother took the device with a resigned sigh before holding it up to her lips with a sheepish smile.

 _~The day I met you was the greatest surprise_

 _For it was the first time i got to look into your beautiful eyes~_

 _~There's no need to speak, I just ask that you listen_

 _Because every beat of my heart is a melody just for you that you're missing~_

Tsunami's voice was smooth and sweet, flowing through the square like a soft river as she sang and causing many people to stop what they were doing in order to listen. Blushing from the attention she was getting, or the booze she'd consumed, the ravenette looked about ready to stop right then and there if it wasn't for the encouraging double thumbs-up she got from Anko.

 _~Each note that it plays is both a song and a prayer_

 _Begging the world that you'll always be there~_

However, whilst everyone else was being drawn in by Tsunami's surprising talent for singing, Star and Naruto remained blissfully unaware. All either of them could focus on was the other blonde currently across from them as they continued to dance.

 _~Those who hate us can glare all they want for i don't care about anything they say_

 _I'll always be happy because you chose to stay~_

Naruto twirled Star around in the now almost empty square as the music sped up briefly, before pulling her back close and going back to the normal waltz.

' _Wow, was Naruto's smile always that amazing?'_ Star wondered as her gaze drifted towards said whiskered blonde's lips.

 _~I hate every time that we have to say goodbye_

 _For every second after you leave_

 _Is a moment that I can't help but grieve~_

' _My chest… why does it feel so tight?'_ Naruto thought while instinctually trying to bring his hands up to his chest. However, since said limbs were still clasped firmly with Star's own hand and on her waist respectively, the whiskered blonde only ended up pulling the princess even closer to himself, with their faces ending up barely an inch from each-other.

 _~The love I feel for you is something i can never hide_

 _Because each time we're together_

 _Is a moment I'll remember forever_

 _So I ask that I can stay by your side~_

"Oh, sorry Star-chan, I-" Naruto started to apologize with a bright blush, only to be abruptly cut off by a strangely familiar yet foreign sensation of something pushing onto his lips. It was soft, warm, just a little bit moist, and had a slightly sweet sugary taste.

His eyes drifting down on their own to find the source of this feeling, those cerulean orbs almost popped out of their sockets upon seeing none other than Star's lips gently pressed against his own in a kiss.

 _~You are my land, sea, and sky_

 _Every word you speak is my holy scripture_

 _So much so that I just can't deny_

 _That a world without you is something I cannot picture~_

In a blink his whole body was tensed up like a coiled spring, and he almost jumped away from his fellow blonde on pure reflex. However, just before that could happen, Naruto felt a hand gently caress the side of his head, snapping his attention away from the lip-lock and causing his gaze to rise back up.

The instant Naruto did so however, he found himself once again enraptured by Star's sky blue eyes, her stare boring into him with the intensity of a laser yet filled to the brim with unending affection.

 _~Show me a model, an actor, a celebrity, it doesn't matter_

 _For out of all the people that there can be_

 _You are the only one I'll ever ask to stay with me~_

Cheers broke out all over as Tsunami finished her song, a certain purplette walking up beside her and began clapping the now brightly smiling mother on the back while everybody applauded her performance.

…Everybody that is, except for a certain pair of blonde's who were still kissing in the middle of the square.

Neither knew when Naruto wrapped his arms around Star's waist and held her close, when she wrapped her arms around his neck, or when they'd ended up at the standing in the middle of the square. Nor did any of those questions matter to either of them at that moment.

In fact, absolutely nothing in the world mattered to those two as their eyes closed and their kiss deepened.

-End Chapter-

AN:

-~~- = Start romantic dance music

Now, I know some of you might not like the song in the story and all, but please hear me out first. If any of you keep up with my deviant-art account (Username: Rad654), you might find those lyrics to be familiar. It are actually an original song I wrote several months ago, and it had been stuck in my head the entire time I wrote this chapter so I just couldn't help but put it in. I hope that is okay and that for those who don't like this sort of thing that it didn't ruin the story for you too much. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and please feel free to review as I could use some opinions on how I did and what I could possibly improve on in the future.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or SvtFoE franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

Curiosity Broke the Scissors

-Chapter 14-

-Last Time-

 _Neither knew when Naruto wrapped his arms around Star's waist and held her close, when she wrapped her arms around his neck, or when they'd ended up at the standing in the middle of the square. Nor did any of those questions matter to either of them at that moment._

 _In fact, absolutely nothing in the world mattered to those two as their eyes closed and their kiss deepened._

-And Now-

"Awww, they are just so precious, aren't they?" Anko gushed as she, Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke stood on the newly completed bridge connecting Wave country to the mainland, watching Naruto and Star huddling together a few feet away.

The pair were caught up in their own little world, the princess resting her head on the whiskered blonde's shoulder, both with one arm wrapped around the other's waist whilst they used the free ones to wave towards the crowd of people at the beginning of the bridge.

Lastly, Tsunami and Tazuna were standing just a couple yards away from the group, both smiling happily yet just a bit somberly.

"Yeah, yeah, we get it Anko-sempai, they're super cute together," Sakura sighed tiredly while shaking her head in exasperation. "It's been a week, could you give it a rest already."

"Never~! Staruto for life!"

"Uuugh."

Time had seemed to just fly by since Gato's was dealt with, as the whole village had stayed partying pretty much nonstop the entire week. The only real exception was those working on the bridge, which was mostly just a horde of Naruto's clones under the direction of Tazuna since most of his workers were either A: Drunk off their ass or B: too busy celebrating to care, usually both.

During that time, the blonde duo that Anko had dubbed Staruto (or Narustar depending) had practically become welded together at the hip. Seriously, with the exception of bathroom breaks and training those two had barely been seen farther than ten feet from each-other at any time, whether it be eating, sleeping, or pretty much anything else.

Speaking of training, after giving Kakashi a swift kick in the ass for not even teaching his students the basic tree climbing technique yet, Anko put all four of the genin through the ringer.

Starting with Sasuke, the resident edge lord was mostly left with just tree climbing and physical exercise, though Anko also suggested he practice the few fire jutsu he knew with Kakashi, who had more experience with them than herself.

Meanwhile, along with the tree climbing Sakura was made to start various weight lifting and flexibility improving stretches to help build up her rather lacking physique. At the same time, Anko adjusted the pinkette's entire dietary plan to something more appropriate for a kunoichi, or in plain speak forced the girl to quote 'actually fucking eat her damn food' unquote.

Since Star couldn't use chakra she instead focused on her spell work, casting various spells over and over to both demonstrate what they could do and redux future mishaps. Results were… varied to put nicely, on the plus side Wave will probably get a lot more tourists thanks to the singing cupcakes now running around.

And lastly, it seemed the trench coat wearing purplette wasn't entirely kidding about taking the resident whiskered blonde under wing as Anko would literally drag Naruto off for some one on one lessons once everyone else was set up. The scantily clad kunoichi mostly focused on the blonde's chakra control and fighting style, both of which needed major overhauls in her opinion.

Each of them was making progress but it was admittedly a bit slow all around, Anko and Kakashi were pretty new at teaching after all and they were still puzzling out what methods worked best for each student and occasionally clashes of opinion between the two.

However, Anko being Anko, had also made good use of this time to gush over the new couple, tease everyone endlessly, throw in random double-entendres or innuendos, and gloat about how she was the greatest matchmaker in all of Konoha. Admittedly it was a bit funny at first, but after a whole week of it nonstop and Sakura was thoroughly tired of it all.

At the same time though, the pinkette couldn't help this odd nagging feeling she had whenever she looked at the couple, Naruto in particular to be exact. She couldn't put her finger on it but for some reason the whiskered blonde just seemed different, his smile looked more pleasant rather than annoying, his laughter joyous and… genuine rather than grating and boisterous.

It was odd to say the least, but love was a weird thing that not even the wisest could understand fully so Sakura didn't look too deep into it.

"I wish you all could stay a bit longer, we can never thank you enough for all your help." Tsunami said while giving a small bow.

"Same here, but a jobs a job sadly, we gotta get back and report to the higher ups before they get grouchy waiting." Anko said joking, clapping her new friend on the shoulder with a wide grin before pulling her into a brief hug.

"It's a damn shame, but life must go on I suppose," Tazuna said to the group with a sigh, idly taking a sip from a tiny flask of sake as he spoke. "That doesn't mean this is goodbye forever though, you all better make sure to visit from time to time, alrighty?"

"You betcha gramps." Naruto said while giving a faux salute, chuckling a bit as the bridge builder mock glared at him.

Giggling under her breath, Star nodded in agreement with her fellow blonde as she entwined her free hand around his waist. "We'll squeeze in a visit every once in a while, promise."

"We look forward to it, until then good luck on your travels." Tsunami said with a soft smile, which only grew as both blondes gave her a hug at the same time.

"Let's just get going already." And like that the sweet moment was ruined thanks to Sasuke, who had gotten tired of the long goodbyes and started marching off.

"Whelp, you guys heard emo-gaki, daylight is burning." Anko with an overdramatic sigh as she followed after the Uchiha along with Kakashi, Naruto, and Star, the latter two still waving as they went.

"Oh brother, uh, it was great to be here, goodbye." Sakura said politely yet quickly with a short bow, a tinge of annoyance in her voice at having her own farewell cut off as she hurried along after the group.

' _I'm pretty sure that's the only time that boy had spoken since he's been here.'_ Tsunami thought with a light giggle before smirking when Anko turned around and winked at her with a mischievous grin. "So father, ready to announce the name of the bridge?"

The moment that question left her lips, Tazuna grinned widely and puffed up his chest with pride. "Of course I am, for this is my greatest masterpiece yet! The great Tazuna Bri-"

"Father no," His daughter cut him off abruptly, making him deflate like a leaking balloon. "I'm talking about the actual name."

"Oh come on, I designed the damn thing, why can't I name it how I want?" Tazuna demanded with a huff, to which earned him a dull look from Tsunami.

"Because you always try to name things you build after yourself," She stated in a dry tone. "Don't think I haven't forgotten the Tazuna short-bridge or the Tazuna market bridge."

"…Fine… you name the stupid thing… not like it's that big a deal… my greatest masterpiece… mean daughter not letting me show my great legacy…" The old man grumbled under his breath as he turned away with crossed arms, making Tsunami roll her eyes at her father's childishness before spinning around to face the gathered group.

"People of Wave, in commemoration of the ones who freed us of Gato's tyranny, my father and I are proud to give you the bridge to new starts, of new hope, of new opportunity… and just a side of dango, the great Mitarashi-Uzumaki Bridge!"

This announcement earned a loud chorus of cheers, getting the ravenette mother's grin to widen and a burst of giggles to slip past her lips as Tazuna grumbled even more under his breath.

-Meanwhile-

"Alright gakis, as small as it is, there's still a chance Mr. Overcompensation and his buddy could be lurking around planning for payback," Anko stated as the group jogged through a dense forest at a casual pace, having already reached the far end of the bridge and roughly halfway to the outskirts of the Land of Fire. "So unless you wanna get shanked by his oversized butter knife make sure to keep your peepers peeled."

"…Are you saying that just for laughs or trying to piss him off if he's actually here?" Naruto couldn't help but ask before deadpanning when the purplette shrugged noncommittingly with a cheeky grin.

"A little of both."

"If I get cut open again, I blame you."

"Oh don't be such a wimp Mr. I'm a badass ninja, you'll be fine." Anko said with chuckle as she leaned on top of the blonde's head.

"Hey, who you calling-Hey!" Naruto started to demand angrily, only to be cut off when the purplette abruptly grabbed his waist and jumped back.

*Swoosh* *Thunk* And not a moment too soon either as a familiar big ass butcher knife dropped from the sky and embedded itself into the ground they'd just been standing, fracturing the ground as it sunk nearly halfway into the earth.

"You know, I may like dango but that doesn't mean I want to be kabobbed," Anko muttered dryly as she let Naruto go and got in a ready stance along with everyone else. "So the big bad demon came back for a rematch after all, I'm tickled."

"No, he has not," A soft somber sounding voice voice stated before a figure wearing a green kimono and Kiri hunter mask gracefully landed atop the sword. "Nor will he ever again."

"Ah, so this is a revenge fight then," The purplette said with a nod before flicking her hands, causing a kunai to slide out from either sleeve into her hands. "Well you must be pretty confident to take us all on by yourself."

"I have no intention of fighting any of you."

…

"""Say what?""" Anko, Naruto, Star, and Sakura all asked at the same time with baffled and/or confused expressions whilst Sasuke simply looked surprised and Kakashi had a mask so who knows.

"My master is gone, deceased by your hands," The fake Hunter stated while pointing at Anko… or Naruto… no definitely Anko… maybe. "Thus, by his honor, his blade now belongs to you. Take care of it… or else."

Not giving the group any chance to respond, the fake hunter seemed to turn blue and translucent before shattering into a thousand pieces of ice that fell into a pile at the blade's base.

"…Whelp, that was random," Kakashi said with a casual shrug, though if one looked closely they would see his solitary eye carefully scanning through the area. "Naruto, go check for traps."

"What?!" Said blonde exclaimed in surprised disbelief as everyone looked at him pointedly. "Why me?!"

"Oh I don't know, maybe because you're the gaki who can clone himself a thousand times over without breaking a sweat." Anko suggested sarcastically, making Naruto blink a few times before smiling sheepishly and scratching the back of his head.

"Right, duh, I knew that… Kage Bunshin!" In a puff of smoke, a solitary clone popped into existence and after sending his creator a dull glare walked straight up to the massive sword. Once he was right in front of it, the doppelganger looked the weapon over for a few seconds while kicking the flat of the blade, making the whole thing shake with a dull thrumming.

Getting no other reaction, the clone shrugged before grabbing the handle and with a strained grunt yanked the sword free of the ground.

"Holy crap this thing weighs a freaking ton," He muttered, stumbling a bit as he hoisted the weapon up and tried giving it a swing only to almost fall over. "How the hell is somebody supposed to use this?"

"Very carefully gaki," Anko said in a joking wise tone as she walked up to the clone, deeming it safe enough for the moment, and swiped it from his grasp. "Like this."

With apparent ease, the purplette twirled the blade with one hand before bopping the clone on the head with the flat of the blade, causing it to dispel into a cloud of smoke.

"Ow?" Naruto muttered while rubbing the back of his head, a hint of confusion in his tone as he swore he felt a small shock of pain run through his noggin for a moment. However, this went unnoticed by everyone else while they watched Anko fiddling with Zabuza's weapon.

"Hmm, it's cool but not really my style, you can keep it boy-gaki." She said while quickly sealing it into a spare scroll in her pocket and tossing it to Naruto, who blinked in confusion.

"The hell am I supposed to do with it? It's almost twice as big as I am." The whiskered blonde pointed out even as he stuffed the scroll into his kunai pouch.

"Don't know and don't care, it's your problem now," Anko said with a dismissive wave of her hand before spinning around and pointing forwards dramatically. "Now get back to moving gakis! We still got a lot of ground to cover."

"…She really likes to make a production out of everything, doesn't she?" Sakura asked dully as they continued walking, earning a few chuckles and giggles from everyone aside from the aforementioned purplette and resident Uchiha.

Nothing much of interest happened after that, and without a civilian slowing them down the team was able to clear the rest of the distance to Konoha by the time the sun was starting to set. In what felt like no time at all, Team Seven finished the standard security check with the eternal gate guards and were back inside the village.

However, they only got about a dozen yards in before Kakashi and Anko abruptly stopped and faced the four genin.

"Alright everyone, Anko and I have a long debriefing to do with the Hokage so you all are dismissed and as per regulations have the next two days off." Kakashi said with his face already nose deep in the ever iconic Icha-Icha book he loved.

"Whoo!" "Sweet!" Naruto and Star cheered in sync while Sakura just smiled and Sasuke grunted non-caringly.

"Lucky bastards." Anko grumbled quietly with a huff.

"That said, next meeting is on Monday at seven and I expect a complete mission report from each of you," Kakashi added casually, causing the two blondes to groan and the purplette next to him snicker. "Goodbye."

"Hah! You guys get to suffer too!"

*Poof* *Poof*

And like that the two jonin were gone, vanishing in simultaneous puffs of smoke and swirls of leaves.

"See you guys later! Me and Naruto got a date at Ichiraku Ramen that we just cannot miss!" Star exclaimed as she grabbed Naruto's arm and dragged him off. "I can't wait to talk to Ayame! I've got so much to tell her!"

"Whoa! Easy Star-chan! You're gonna pull my arm off!" Naruto exclaimed in mock alarm even as he laughed at his girlfriend's excitement.

Meanwhile, shaking her head with a sigh that was a mix between exasperation and amusement, Sakura couldn't help the soft giggle that slipped past her lips at everyone's antics. Then her face suddenly lit up in pure excitement when an idea hit her and she turned towards the ever-brooding raven-haired boy standing beside her with a bright smile.

"Hey Sasuke-kun, why don't we go out and celebrate our first successful…" Just as quickly as the pinkette's good mood came it withered away into nothing, her lips sinking to a sad frown as she watched Sasuke walk off without even waiting for her to finish.

Disheartened, Sakura's head drooped in depression, a small storm cloud seemingly popping into existence above her head and start raining on her just to emphasize her sadness. A few moments later though, her expression hardened into anger, her fists clenched and she turned around ready to…

…

Ready to…

…

' _What am I doing?'_ Sakura thought as she stared at the empty space she had been about to pummel, her fist dropped back to her side while a look of total confusion spread across her face. ' _I was …angry? Why?'_

Rubbing the side of her forehead with her other hand, the pinkette glanced down at her still clenched fist in puzzlement, slowly uncurling and re-clenching her fingers several times.

' _I don't understand, it feels like there's something missing, but what?'_ She wondered as she started walking, no real destination in mind as she stared at the ground, losing herself within her thoughts. After a few minutes of aimless wandering though, the girl stopped again, this time to clench the middle of her chest with a slight grimace. ' _What is going on?'_

Sakura was a smart girl, she always got straight A's in class, studied every lesson in class twice over, and could do math equations even grown adults would have trouble solving with relative ease. Yet despite all that, she just couldn't make any sense about what was going on inside her own head.

' _But,'_ Sakura thought as the metaphorical lightbulb lit up within her mind. ' _Maybe Ino can. Her family specializes in this stuff.'_

With that in mind, the young pinkette finally looked up with a determined glint in her eye… which immediately changed to surprise as she found herself standing right in front of none other than the Yamanaka Flower shop itself.

"…That's oddly convenient." She muttered with a raised brow while taking in the store's appearance, or more specifically the new sign that was stuck onto the shop's main one and the female mannequin displayed in the window.

The former was relatively simply yet attention grabbing, just a plain white square about half as big as herself with the kanji 'Now Available: Custom Exotic Silk Clothing by Ino Yamanaka: Order Today' painted onto it. On the other hand, the latter was much visually appealing thanks to being adorned with a lovely kimono that was primarily a glossy black with varying strips of blues and purples interwoven across it, creating an almost perfect late dusk sky appearance.

"Dang… and I thought Star's dress was gorgeous," Sakura thought aloud as she looked the outfit over several times before shaking her head with a small frown. "Focus damnit, more important things to handle."

A bell softly chimed as she pushed the door open, catching the attention of the store's currently previously solitary occupant, Mrs. Yamanaka, who was in the middle of watering the various plants of the shop.

"Welcome to… oh Sakura-chan!" The brunette started to say the typical store greeting, only to cut herself off with a cheerful smile at seeing the pinkette standing in the doorway. Setting down the watering can in her hands, the regal looking woman quickly made her way across the room and pulled Sakura into a hug. "I'm glad to see you're alright, your mother and I overheard that there were complications with your mission and we were so worried."

"Yeah, it was pretty crazy Aunty Yuri but as you can see, I'm just fine." Sakura said with a small smile as she hugged Mrs. Yamanaka back while wincing internally at what the woman said. ' _Crap crap, craaaaaap, I totally forgot to tell mom and dad I'm back first! Oh man Mom's gonna tan my hide for that!''_

"And I'm glad for that," Ino's mother stated while patting Sakura's head, snapping the pinkette out of her thoughts just as the woman broke the hug and went back to watering the plants. "I'm guessing you didn't pop in just to see me though."

Nodding with a slightly awkward smile at being called out right of the bat. "Erm…yes ma'am, I was wondering if Ino was home?"

"Indeed she is, she's holed up in her room working on a new order she just got from the Fire Daimyo's wife," Mrs. Yamanaka stated while pointing towards the staircase at the back of the shop/home, pride clear in the brunette's tone as she spoke. "I must say, never in my wildest dreams had I thought my little girl would already have her own little business running, let alone for it to be so successful."

"You and me both Aunty," Sakura muttered with a slow nod as she looked back at the Kimono on display, idly running a hand across the soft and silky fabric. She was more than a little shocked that her friend actually got an order from that woman, who while a generally kind woman was notoriously stingy when it came to the quality of her clothing. "I had no idea Ino could sew so well, did you teach her?"

"Nope, she taught herself for years, said she wanted to prove she could be a good housewife when the time came." The mother said while shaking her head, her tone still proud yet now with a hint of annoyance… no, not annoyance, exasperation.

' _Ugh, of course, why didn't I think of that?'_ Sakura thought, mentally beating herself up for letting her former rival have such an obvious advantage in their attempts to catch the romantic interest of one Sasuke Uchiha. "Well I guess it's a good thing she did, it's certainly paying off for her."

"Quite literally in this case," Mrs. Yamanaka said with a soft giggle that the pinkette shared before she made a shooing motion with her free hand. "Well go on then, I told you where my daughter is and besides, I'm sure Ino could use a break right about now anyway."

"Right, thanks Aunty Yuri." Sakura said, giving the woman a brief hug as she zipped by her and clambered up the stairway.

Reaching the upper floor in practically no time at all, the young genin only took a moment to locate the door to Ino's room and loudly rapped her knuckles against the wooden slab.

" _It's open!"_ Ino's voice called out, prompting Sakura to open the door and step inside, revealing Ino sitting at a new looking desk that had a small sewing machine attached to it, a stand for spools of thread, a dye rack, several drawers, and a basket filled with bundles of Star's silk.

The blonde was holding up a little red baby-sized and oddly shaped kimono with golden trim and flame designs, looking it over with a critical eye for several moments before setting it back down and fiddling with the seams.

"Well, are you gonna stand there staring at me Forehead or are you gonna sit down?" She asked without even looking up from her work, causing Sakura to blink in surprise.

"Wha… how did you…"

"Mom wasn't exactly quiet when you arrived," Ino stated bluntly, finally looking up from her look to give the pinkette a dull look which quickly turned to one of interest. "So what can I help you with? Here to tell me about your first C-Rank went?"

"Not really, I actually came here to ask for some… therapy," Sakura admitted reluctantly, making Ino's jaw drop in surprise, at least until the pinkette added. "And no, it's not about Sasuke-kun… I think."

"You think?" The mind reader repeated with a raised brow, disbelief clear in her tone.

Sighing, Sakura decided to use the one card she knew would get her instant results. "Help me and I'll tell you how Naruto and Star's became a couple and how their first dates went."

*Swoosh*

…

"The fuck?" Those were the only ones Sakura could think as in the blink of an eye, she suddenly found herself laying back-first on the bed whilst Ino took a chair next to her, notepad and pen in hand.

"Alright then, what's been bothering you?" Ino asked in a faux professional tone while slipping on a pair of stylish looking glasses. "Did something bad happen on your mission?"

"Uhhh, it had a pretty hectic start but other than that not really," ' _I'm starting to regret this already.'_ Sakura said and thought as she gradually recovered from her surprise. "Look, the reason I came here is that something weird happened right when I got back and I have no idea what to make of it."

"Okay… go on."

-Que quick recap-

"…The next thing I know, I'm standing there with my fist in the air, ready to pummel something and I just have no idea why," Sakura finished her tale with a sigh while placing a hand over her chest. "And if that wasn't weird enough, I've had this annoying gnawing bubbling sensation in my chest ever since then, like I'm pissed as hell, super depressed, and completely confused all once."

"And were there any other oddities you might have noticed recently, perhaps over the last week or so?" Ino asked while writing something in her notepad.

"Well… now that you mention it, it has felt oddly quiet these last few days."

"Hmm… interesting, very interesting," Ino muttered softly while jotting something else down, a knowing glint starting to grow in her eyes. "Have you also noticed a feeling of emptiness or perhaps that something was missing?"

"Yeah actually, exactly like that," Sakura admitted in surprise with a nod. "I could swear that something was gonna happen but nothing did, it was like the total opposite of Déjà vu."

"Well that confirms it then," The blonde said while setting the pad in her hands down and jabbing the end of her pen towards Sakura. "Sakura, the reason you feel like this is because you miss Naruto."

"…Heh?" Was the pinkette's intelligent retort.

"Just hear me out on this," Ino said with her hands held up in the classic 'Hold on a sec' pose. "You said that right after Sasuke-kun ignored your offer for a date, you were sad but then got all steamed up and turned around to punch something. Tell me, what normally happened after getting shot down by Sasuke-kun?"

At this question, Sakura rolled her eyes with a scoff. "First off, I do not get shot down, Sasuke-kun just has other things to do, and Naruto would usually try to ask me out but I don't get what that-"

"And what would you normally do right after he asks you out?" Ino cut the pinkette of while pushing up on the bridge of her glasses, causing the light to reflect off the lenses ominously.

"Uh, well, I would get annoyed… and… and…" The pinkette slowly trailed off and her voice grew quieter as it at last clicked together in her brain, that moment in the street getting flashing in her mind only now in the empty space she'd been facing a faint outline of a certain whiskered blonde could be seen ever so briefly.

"Now you get it Sakura, you've been using Naruto as your emotional outlet for years, where you could dump all your pent up feelings without remorse since his infatuation with you meant he'd never retaliate," Ino explained. "Now that he's dating Star though, you don't have that same luxury anymore, so all the anger and sadness you'd normally vent out on him are getting bottled up instead. But as you know, old habits tend to die hard so when you got upset at Sasuke-kun's rejection your mind defaulted which ended up confusing the ration part of your brain at a lack of actual target, IE Naruto."

"I guess that makes sense… kinda of," Sakura said as her tone turned sullen, memories of various moments she'd done just that flashing through her head. "I really owe Naruto an apology, don't I?"

"Undoubtably," The blonde agreed with a nod while reaching down and pulling the pinkette up into a sitting position, a serious expression spreading across her face as she tossed aside the glasses she was wearing. "Though speaking of Naruto, there's actually something about him I wanted to talk to you about."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, he and Star got together du-MMPH!" Sakura was once more cut off, only this time it was due to Ino actually clapping a hand over her mouth mid-sentence.

"Not that! …But I do want all the juicy details later." Ino exclaimed before adding the last bit as an afterthought when she pulled her hand away. Then things seemed to take a turn for the truly weird as the mind reader suddenly locked her door then rushed over and pulled the curtains closed on the solitary window of the room. "I'll be blunt, have you noticed anything strange or unusual about Naruto since becoming his teammate?"

"Uuuuuh, other than he heals stupidly fast somehow not really," The pinkette said with a somewhat unnerved expression while slowly inching her way towards the locked door. "Why?"

Not answering verbally, Ino walked back over to Sakura and stuck a hand underneath the mattress, fishing around for a few seconds before pulling out a small inconspicuous looking piece of folded parchment which made Sakura immediately deadpan. Flicking it open to reveal a storage seal, the blonde set it down on the bed just as it released a cloud of smoke with an audible *Poof* sound, which soon cleared away to reveal a corkboard.

It was covered in various notes, some strings, a few rough sketches, and a solitary picture of Naruto in the middle all held in place by various pins. This thing was Ino's personal gossip theory board, which she used to help track down the most truth out of any rumor that was giving her a particularly hard time.

"Seriously, you still use that old thing?" The pinkette asked dully while staring at the mind reader with a bland expression. "And why is Naruto on it?"

"Because Sakura," Ino started as she sat down right next to her friend and stared at the board intently. "The village is hiding something about him, something big…

…And I think I know what."

-End Chapter-

AN:

Mitirashi-Uzumaki Bridge: Syrup Whirlpool bridge

Huge apologies for the long delay but a combination of sickness and work left me pretty much unable to write at all. I tried, honestly, but what little I could write in that state was mostly incomprehensible gibberish. That all aside, I do hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review.


End file.
